Birthday Polenta Cake

Celebrating after Champagne & two bottles of Rhone wine. (Don't tell the Picky Eater!)

I was forced to celebrate another birthday yesterday. But, with my history, every birthday is one more to the good. Did some of my favorite things - shopping, swimming, dinner at Enoteca Donato. Made my own birthday cake- that way you always get what you want.
This year it was-

The remains of the cake

Polenta Cake with Olive Oil, Chocolate and Dried Fruit

adapted from Ready for Dessert by David Lebovitz

1/2 c unsalted butter (or substitute), softened, plus more to grease the cake pan
3/4 c polenta or cornmeal,
1 c flour plus 4 Tb for pan and fruit mixture
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 c mild olive oil
5 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 c sugar
1 c chopped good quality chocolate
2/3 c dried cherries
2/3 c golden raisins
Optional: 1 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)

Chocolate glaze choices-
Traditional
6 oz. semisweet chocolate
1/3 c. whipping cream
1 Tb sugar 1 1/2 Tb butter

(For non-dairy eaters):
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/3 cup sugar
3 ounces semi- or bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 10 cup bundt or kugelhopf pan with a tablespoon or so of butter and dust with flour.  Combine the chocolate, cherries, and raisins in a bowl and toss with 2 Tb of flour.

Stir the flour, polenta, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl. Set aside. In a second bowl, whisk together the olive oil, eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla.

Use a mixer to beat the 1/2 cup butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Slowly dribble in the egg mixture and beat until completely incorporated. Hand stir in the flour and cornmeal mixture until just mixed and then stir in the chocolate, cherries and raisins.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the upper center of the oven until the cake has pulled away from the sides of the pan, is firm on top, and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean, about 50-60 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes, and then invert the cake on the rack to cool completely.  Makes 10-12 servings.

Traditional Chocolate Glaze
Place all ingredients in a small heavy saucepan over moderate heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is almost melted. Remove from heat and stir until smooth. Transfer to a small bowl and let cool slightly, until it is the consistency of honey.

Non-Dairy Chocolate Glaze
When the cake is cool, drizzle on this glaze (work quickly):
In a small saucepan, bring the water, corn syrup and sugar to a simmer over low heat. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and add the chocolate, swirling pan to submerge it in hot syrup. Whisk the mixture until smooth.

Pour the warm glaze of choice over cake and drizzle it down the sides- you will only have a couple minutes to work with it before it sets up.

Memories of Monticchiello con Risotto al Limone

Podere San Guisto

The Picky Eater's idea of heaven on earth is our friends' Ann & Pier Paolo's farmhouse in the Monteleone, about halfway between Pisa & Florence.

La Foce

Our last visit was in the summer of 2011, and one of our forays was a field trip to La Foce, the famous house and garden of the Anglo-American writer Iris Origo. (I highly recommend her autobiography, Images and Shadows: Part of a Life, which details her early years traveling the globe with her wealthy gypsy parents, her youth in Florence when her mother held court with the likes of Bernard Berenson, and the years of hard work she and her Italian husband spent reclaiming the impoverished lands and people that were La Foce.)

Montecchiello view

The daddy will be happy to tell you that any day trip with me in Spain, France or Italy always includes the obligatory two hour lunch, and this day was no different. As usual, we arrived our at destination just in time for lunch- at La Taverna di Moranda in the beautiful village of Montecchiello in the southern Tuscan region of Pienza. Not only is Montecchiello sited on a gorgeous hilltop with amazing views, it also has the best linen shop I have yet to encounter anywhere and a tiny altarpiece "Madonna con bambino" by Pietro Lorenzetti.

The Picky Eater ordered her standard pasta with tomato sauce but for some unknown reason (perhaps a desperate attempt on the chef's part to make it more interesting?) it tasted "too spicy" to her, and seeing her untouched plate, the chef's wife / hostess told us that her seven year old daughter loved it and didn't find it too spicy! Ann, a fellow vegetarian, ordered lemon risotto, which she liked very much and later tried to recreate at home using a recipe for lemon-asparagus risotto from Alice Water's The Simple Art of Food, without the asparagus, and with mixed results.

Ann & the Picky Eater trying to digest
 her spicy pasta 

Linen shop con gatto

Ann is here in Palo Alto visiting her father at the moment and last week we made another go at it. Please note that some hardy soul has to be prepared to wield a spoon and stir for almost all of the 17-20 minutes that it takes to cook the risotto to a creamy finish.

Here is the very delicious result of our experiments-

Amalgamated Lemon Risotto
(a distillation of 2 recipes- one from Patricia Wells' Trattoria 
& one from Nigella Lawson courtesy of the Food Network)

3 shallots, finely chopped
2 ribs of celery, small dice
6-7 cups of vegetable broth
3 Tb butter
2 Tb olive oil
2 cups Italian Arborio or Canaroli rice
1/2 c. white wine
1-2 Tb grated lemon zest
2-4 Tb fresh lemon juice
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese, grated
Fresh ground pepper
Salt to taste

Optional:
1 egg yolk
4 Tb heavy cream
4 Tb grated Parmesan cheese

Ann stirring up a storm

In a large saucepan, heat the stock and keep it at a low simmer.

Melt 2 Tb of the butter and all the olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over moderate heat. Saute the shallots and celery until the shallots are soft and translucent, about 3 minutes, but do not let them brown. Add the rice and stir until it is well coated with the butter/oil mixture, glistening and semitranslucent, about 1-2 minutes. (Do not skip this step! It helps separate the grains of rice.)

When the rice is shiny, add a ladle of stock, and cook, stirring constantly, until the rice has absorbed most of the stock, which will take 1-2 minutes. Add additional ladlefuls of stock one at a time, stirring constantly, as each ladleful is absorbed. Adjust the heat if necessary to maintain a gentle simmer. Continue adding stock, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan. Taste the risotto regularly until the rice is almost tender but firm to the bite, about 17 minutes. The risotto should have a creamy, porridge-like consistency.

The delicious results!

Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the remaining tablespoon of butter, half of the lemon zest and half the lemon juice, and the Parmesan. Taste and increase the lemon zest and juice to the desired level of "lemony-ness," and add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve immediately.  Serves 4 to 6.

As an alternate finish, you can beat the egg yolk with the cream and Parmesan, and stir it into the risotto along with the lemon zest and juice. This makes for an even creamier and richer tasting risotto.

Zucchini Pancakes- No Maple Syrup Needed!

A perfect crispy zucchini pancake

I bought some exotic "Roman" zucchini at the farmer's market on Sunday, and last night I whipped up some zucchini pancake batter based on a Mark Bittman recipe in How To Cook Everything Vegetarian. It was one of his variations listed under "Vegetable Pancakes." I haven't been a big fan of his recipes in the past, but these were pretty yummy. Dr. Hal refused anything that might be goopy and veggie, so I just made 3/4 of a recipe with two zucchini, and had batter left for two more meals.

The nice thing about this recipe is that you only add enough milk to make the batter spoonable, so you can use the whole egg used for a whole recipe and just add less milk. (I hate having to beat up an egg and try to divide in half or worse, as in this case, 3/4ths!) Last night I cooked the pancakes on medium heat and they were still a little damp inside, so today for lunch I cooked them on a lower heat for longer. I also hand grated the vegetables which helped  preserve their structure. My onion grating experiences usually result in a mess of onion juice and slop, but the onion I used last night grated up into nice little slivers.

Zucchini Pancakes a la Mark Bittman
Makes about twelve 3-1/2" pancakes
1 lb. zucchini
1/2 onion, grated
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup flour
salt and pepper
Milk, as needed
2 Tb olive oil
1/2-3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Butter or olive oil for the pan

Grate the vegetables by hand into a medium mixing bowl. Stir in the onion, cheese, and flour, andthen the egg. Season with salt and pepper. (You can go easy on the salt because the Parmesan is salty.) Add just enough milk so that the mixture drops easily from a large spoon. Stir in the 2 Tb of olive oil.

Melt a small pat of butter in a large skillet over medium low heat. When the butter is melted and bubbly, drop in spoonfuls of the batter, flattening slightly with your spoon. Cook, turning once, until brown and crispy on both sides, which will take about 15 minutes total.

Partially cooked- it's hard to wait!

You can scarf these up plain, like I did, or serve them with a soupcon of yogurt, sour cream, tomato sauce or pesto. If everyone wants to eat at the same time, you can keep the pancakes warm in a 275 degree oven.

So the $64,000 question is would the Picky Eater eat one?

Further Escapades with Julia

The Picky Eater makes Pate A Choux.

A day spent cooking with Julia is loaded with memories for me, and leafing through the cookbooks brings so many of them flooding back. So, I decided to make a list of all the Julia recipes that I can remember ever cooking, evidenced by the rumples and food dribbles on the cookbook pages.

The recipes are Picky Eater star rated:
*** Fabulous and worth the trouble
** Good relative to the effort
* Worth a try
No Star - Never, ever, ever again!

From Mastering the Art of French Cooking vol. 1 (1961)
**Potage Parmentier (Leek & Potato Soup)
*Soupe A L'Oignon- requires slicing several pounds of onions; guaranteed to make you weep
**Soupe Au Pistou (Provencal Vegetable Soup with Garlic, Basil & Herbs)- one of my earliest attempts, circa 1973 & my first introduction to the French version of pesto, made with dried basil, naturellement!
***Sauce Bechamel & its cousins- Veloute and Mornay
*Sauce Aioli (Garlic Mayonnaise)- guaranteed to spoil after three days
**Piperade (Basque Onion, Pepper, Tomato Ragout)
**Pate Brisee (Pie Crust)- don't forget the fraisage! So much easier made in a food processor.
**Quiche Lorraine
*Pissaladiere Nicoise (Onion Tart with Olives)- Used to make jelly roll pan size for catering. Another onion eye killer.
***Pate A Choux (Cream Puff Paste)
***Petits Choux au Fromage aka Gougeres- the yummiest cheese puffs! I like to add a spoonful of Dijon mustard for contrast.
**Crepes- once made 1000 crepes for....
***Gateau de Crepes a la Florentine- made fifty of these for a backyard wedding with 500 guests in my catering days. My brother ferried the hot crepe gateaux from a rented industrial kitchen to the house for serving.

Dr. Hal's Coq au Vin

**Coq au Vin (Chicken in Red Wine)- a Dr. Hal favorite. He made it just two weekends ago, telling me "I know that you don't like it, but it's really good."
***Poulets Grilles A La Diable (Chicken Broiled with Mustard And Herbs)- relatively easy for Julia
***Boeuf Bourguignon- another all time Dr. Hal favorite
Paupiettes de Boeuf- very 1950's dinner party style

***Tomates A La Provencale (Tomatoes Stuffed with Bread Crumbs, Herbs, and Garlic)

***Champignons Farcis (Stuffed Mushrooms)

**Souffle Au Fromage- our feeble attempt to interest the Picky Eater in eggs & cheese.

A glorious Cheese Souffle 

Gratin Dauphinois (Scalloped Potatoes)- still working on getting the potatoes to soften up! One of my guaranteed ongoing disasters, along with chemically unleavened French cakes.
*Legumes A La Grecque (Vegetables Cooked in Aromatic Broth)- have made a slew of these in my day.
*Celeri-Rave Remoulade (Celery Root in Mustard Sauce)
**Pommes De Terre A L'Huile (French Potato Salad)- still embarrassed about the first time I made this and didn't cook the potatoes all the way through.
***Salade Nicoise- one of my all time favorites!
*Mousse De Foies De Volaille (Chicken Liver Mousse)- chopped chicken liver gone elegante.
**Creme Anglaise (Custard sauce)

The French Chef Cookbook (1968)
Sorry to say that I have never used FCC- no need with access to the other books. Love the still photos of Julia sniffing vanilla beans, tasting for seasoning, and preparing to poach a salmon in a washtub!

The Beef Box- never again!

Mastering the Art of French Cooking vol. II (1970)
***Potage Magali (Mediterranean Tomato Soup with Rice)- Yummy & never fail!
La Paupiette De Gargantua (Giant Stuffed Beef Roll)
Boeuf en Caisse, Surprise (Stuffed, Braised Pot Roast of Beef- Beef Case) aka as "Beef in a Box"- The night I made this recipe as a donation luncheon, Dr. Hal made me swear at least 30 times "Never, never, never again" to  any outside catering! he had to cut a 7 lb. piece of top round beef into a box shape and cut out the inside, while I made a roux based sauce. The "surprise" had to be braise for hours (until 2 am in this case) and then I was up at 3 to rip off its cheesecloth cover, worried that it would stick as the meat cooled.
La Tentation De Bramafan (Eggplant Caviar with Walnuts)
*Tuiles Aux Amandes (Lacy Curved Almond Wafers)- guaranteed to singe your fingers!


Julia Child & Company (1978)
***Los Gatos Gateau Cake- rum flavored buttercream and apricot filling sandwiched between layers of almond meringue and iced with more buttercream and sliced almonds. Thank god for parchment paper!
Poulet De Charente A La Melonaise (Chicken Melon)- only fools rush in ...
**Skewered Vegetable Salad- good summer veggie dish
**Apple Turnover- gargantuan size to serve 6. The dessert cousin of the "pantins" listed below.
Chicken Bouillabaisse with Rouille (Garlic & Pimento Sauce)- part of the Lo-Cal Banquet, too lo-cal for me
*Aspargus Tips in Puff Pastry with Lemon Butter Sauce- And this she considers part of an "informal" dinner? Who makes puff pastry for a casual appetizer?
An American Paella In A Chinese-Style Electric Wok- beware of uncooked rice
**Ham Pithiviers (Puff Pastry Tart with Hidden Ham Filling)- worth making puff pastry for this one. Like the Almond Pithiviers, it will have you licking your plate
*Gravlaks (Dilled Fresh Salmon)- be sure to plan ahead, it takes 5 days to cure
***Minimeatballs- yummy mix of ground beef and pork pork sausage in a tangy sauce. One of the best of the genre.
*Bourbon-soaked Chocolate Truffles- too alcoholic and bitter for me
**Homemade Noodles- my first noodle manufacturing experience. Ok, as long as you don't try to jam the dough through the pasta machine (I bent ours).
***Le Gateau Victoire Au Chocolate Mousseline- a chocolate mousse cake of epic proportions. I have only made it once and it was amazing! Requires focus and serving right from the oven- do it for a dinner party when someone else is sharing the cooking duities with you.
**Homemade Pita Bread Pizzas- yummy, but, like all pizzas, very high carb/fat.
Chocolate-Chip Spice & Pound Cake

The Chocolate Bombe- how we love you so!

Julia Child & More Company (1979)
**Buttermilk-Herb Baking Powder Biscuits
**Celery Root Remoulade - I like to use the sour cream-mustard dressing on other cruciferous vegetables like cabbage.
*******Bombe Aux Trois Chocolats (A Chocolate Mousse Hidden Under a Mold of Chcolate Fudge Cake, Topped with Chocolate Sauce) - we have a bowl and pattern cutouts devoted just to this dessert, our go-to tradition for Christmas. Rich and amazing. Never, ever, ever make this recipe with anything but the best quality chocolate.
*Cobb Salad - hearkens back to Julia's Southern California roots
*French Onion Soup Gratinee - a little over the top to make your own beef stock (I never do)
Gateau of Crepes Layered with Vegetables and Cheese - I once made this for a catering client who cold called me and asked me to make it for her after she had watched Julia make it on tv.

**Pears Poached in White Wine - these days I prefer to use apple juice, you skip the wine & sugar and throw in lemon zest, cinnamon sticks, and a soupcon of vanilla.
***Caramel Sauce - the BEST!!
*Gazpacho Salad (Layers of Colorful Freshly Cut Vegetables with Bread Crumbs and Garlic Dressing) - a ton of finicky dicing but a nice result. This can take hours if you're making enough for fifty or sixty people.
Plantation Spice Cookies - never became a fixture in my repetoire
Artichoke Scoops with Shellfish - love the egg yolk vinaigrette dressing, but only tried the whole process once.
Pissaladiere Gargantua (Giant Onion and Anchovy Pizza) - used olives instead of anchovies for catering purposes. This really isn't a pizza as it has a pie dough base. Haven't made one of these in years- sort of got sick of it.

From Julia Child's Kitchen (1981)
*Soupe Au Cresson (Watercress Soup)
**Quiche Aux Brocoli
**Pantin Aux Epinards, Simone Beck (Simca's Spinach Turnover with Ham & Mushrooms) also Pantin Au Chester (Cheddar Cheese Turnover)- early adventures in freeform turnovers
***Le Gateau Omni-Omelette (Many-layered Omelette with Multiple Fillings)- I foolishy used to offer a catered "breakfast in bed." Which meant I was up at dawn making omelettes and sneaking into customers' kitchens to leave this omelette, coffeecake, and fruit salad, etc.
**Roulade Au Fromage; Souffle Au Fromage Roule (Cheese Souffle Roll)- Watch out for cracks and craters when you try to roll this baby!
**Poulet Saute Grand'mere (Chicken sauteed with Potatoes, Salt Pork, and Mushrooms)- another opportunity for under-cooked potatoes.
***Supremes De Volaille en Goujons, A La Creme et Aux Champignons (Sliced Chicken Breasts Sauteed, with Cream & Mushrooms)- Yummy, yummy, yummy (and easy once the chicken breasts are boned). My mother and I evolved into speed chicken breast boners- we could do one a minute at our peak.
***Supremes De Volaille Sautees, Andalouse (Chicken Breasts Sauteed, White Wine Sauce with Tomato Fondue & Tarragon)- one of the all time best make ahead dishes for a large crowd.
Dinde Rotie Au Four (Roast Turkey)- I am not a big time meat cooker, and it took only one Thanksgiving turkey roasting experience to happily turn the honor over to my carnivore cooking husband.
Spaghetti Marco Polo (An Unorthodox Main-Course Spaghetti Dish to be Eaten with Chopsticks)- this may be heresy, but don't bother, there are plenty of better pasta recipes out there.
*Tranches D'Aubergine A L'Italienne (Eggplant Pizzas)
Caviar D'Aubergine (Eggplant Caviar: a Puree with Garlic, Sesame, and Lemon)
**Caesar Salad- Made this version once, then switched to the simpler styled salad in Field of Greens. Who needs to deal with coddled eggs?
Pain Francais (French Bread)- almost laborious beyond belief, but I did learn how to properly form round loaves and rolls.
**La Tarte Des Demoiselles Tatin (Upside-Down Apple Tart)- Impressed my future husband with one of these, cooked in an outoor porch oven the first time that he came to lunch.
**Tarte Aux Fraises (Fresh Strawberry Tart)
Fantaisie Glacee Aux Poires (Pear & Meringue Fantasy, Ice Cream Topped with Fruit Poached in Wine)- made individual heart shaped meringue bases for one of my first catering experiments.
***Mousse Au Chocolat- An extraordinary recipe- more complicated than many chocolate mousses- but worth it.
***Gateau Saint-Honore (Ring of Cream Puffs Filled with Pastry Cream and Fruits in Season)- challenging and spectacular!
***Buche De Noel (Christmas Chocolate Log Cake)- from the meringue mushrooms to the roughed up chocolate icing bark to the spun-sugar moss, a labor of love
**Les Madeleines de Commercy- Confirmation of my love-hate relationship with sponge cake.
***Spiced Dough for Gingerbread Houses- probably the recipe I have made more than any other over the last 30 years. I routinely go through 10 pounds of flour, 4 pounds of butter, 8 pounds of powdered sugar, and dozens of eggs for our holiday gingerbread house parties.
**Le Pithiviers (Almond Cream Tart in French Puff Pastry)- one of the yummiest!

Clafouti with Stuffed Pears- New Year's Eve 2001

The Way To Cook (1989)
This book brings Julia full circle- combining her French culinary expertise with American recipes, ingredients and traditions. What a great integration! Recipes are simplified but without the loss of quality. This tome seems sadly under appreciated or even noticed.
**Fisherman's Salad
**Chicken Breasts Meuniere - One of the Picky Eater's few attempts at eating meat. We sauteed some chicken breast, cut it up in little bits, put them on her high chair tray and were told that it "tastes too strong"
**Deviled Chicken with Mustard Coating - I prefer cut up chicken pieces to struggling with a butterflied chicken.
The Re-assembled Roast Turkey - Dr. Hal did it once for Thanksgiving, but his loyalty has since switched to Thanksgiving gone the America's Test Kitchen way.
**Boned Stuffed and Roasted Turkey Breast - a dlectable luncheon dish that can be made ahead and roasted close to serving time. I like the Mushroom Duxelles Stuffing.
**Roast Prime Ribs of Beef - Julia's guidelines for roasting a prime rib have saved many a Christmas roast from cremation.
***Stuffed Tomatoes Provencale - a summer standby with barbecued meats
**Feta Peppers (Bell or Chile Peppers Baked with Cheese)
*Wild Rice Braised with Mirepoix & Mushrooms Duxelles
***Ratatouille - my favorite version
**All-Season Bean Salad
**French Potato Salad - a standby
***Salade Nicoise
*Hot Corn Salad - a no-show at our Julia Child dinner; I made it a day or two later.
**Broccoli Quiche - prefer this to spinach
***Free-Form Fresh Apple Tart - minimum effort yields maximum success; you can use a variety of fruits
**Clafouti with Stuffed Pears - deep dish pie shell + custard + poached pears = a fun special occasion dessert

Baking with Julia (1996)
Julia was 84 years when this book was published, and her involvement was as host, coach, and cheerleader. Many of the recipes are a little hardcore at this stage in my life (especially the "Glorious Wedding Cake," in case you want to bake your own), but I have used one or two. The format is much more "coffee table" than her other books, with full page shimmering, mouthwatering color photos.
*Alsatian Onion Tart
***Cheese & Tomato Galette
**Vegetable Cream Cheese
**Salmon Spread

Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home (1999)
Still a new frontier for me!

Clearly, there are many happy but exhausting hours of cooking with Julia left for me!!