Easy Lunch?

Is it just me or do salads seem like a lot of effort to make from scratch, for lunch? This is likely the New Yorker in me that says "why chop vegetables when all I have to do is pick up the phone and call for a $5 falafel sandwich?" But sometimes (granted, not that often) you don't feel like falafel. So the other day V and I went out to everyone's favorite Belgian organic chain restaurant, got 2 salads, a latte and a lemonade, and paid $50. And that seems comparable to all the other salad options that are close by. Not part of the daily budget!!

SO....I stocked up on beautiful veggies at the farmer's market and made this yummy salad in no time at all. Really...quinoa cooks in 15 minutes and you can make enough for the week. Fresh green lettuce, baby heirloom tomatoes and yellow string beans. Add a can of red kidney beans for extra protein. Done!

What a little meal planning can do! :)

Topped it with red pepper dressing, because I'm still grooving on that one (and there was half a jar of red peppers in the fridge, screaming to be used).

PS: There's that gosh darn yellow plate again :) ...goes a little better with salad than it does with plum tart though.

Marzipan birthday cake!

My friends called for a birthday cake with the specifications that it should contain a lot of cream and be covered in marzipan.

I had a lot of vanilla buttercream left over in my freezer but it seemed too dense, so I mixed it with equal parts whipped cream and pastry cream.

I baked Toba Garrett's yellow cake in 2 9-inch pans.

I cut each cake in half and leveled the tops. Each layer was generously brushed with simple syrup (flavored with peach schnapps), then covered in a thin layer of Sarabeth's peach jam. Then a layer of cake, reapeating the process with all layers.

I crumb coated everything with straight-up buttercream.

Finally I kneaded and rolled out the marzipan to cover the cake. All the decorations were marzipan as well (except for the piping, which was royal icing, painted gold).

Toba Garrett's Yellow Cake

3 cups (330 g) cake flour (King Arthur now makes an unbleached one...hooray)

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup (8 oz or 230 g) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups (454 g) granulated sugar

5 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups (10 fl oz or 300 ml) buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter and line with parchment paper two 9 inch pans. Set aside.

In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Cut up the butter into 1-inch pieces and place them in the large bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment or beaters. Beat for 3 minutes on MEDIUM-HIGH speed until the butter is light and creamy in color. Stop and scrape the bowl. Cream the butter for an additional 60 seconds.

Add the sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Add the eggs one at a time.

Reduce the mixer speed. Stir vanilla into the buttermilk. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk. Mix just until incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix for 15 seconds longer.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a knife. Lift up the pan with the batter, and let it drop onto the counter top to burst any air bubbles, allowing the batter to settle.

Center the pans onto the lower third of the oven and let bake 45 to 50 minutes or until the cake is lightly brown on top and comes away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Toba Garrett's Vanilla Buttercream

I like to make a double recipe and freeze the left-overs because it is such a time commitment to make this.

1 1/2 Cups (345g) granulated sugar
3/4Cup (6floz or 180ml) milk
1 1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4tsp salt
1Tbsp pure vanilla extract
3/8 Cup (3floz or90ml) heavy cream
1 1/4 lbs (567 g) unsalted butter, room temperature

Make custard by heating milk and sugar until sugar crystals dissolve. Add flour and salt and whisk over an ice bath until the custard has cooled, or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1/2 hour to cool the mixture. Whisk in vanilla extract.

Pour custard mixture into a mixer bowl with a paddle attachment. Add cut-up butter and add heavy cream. Mix on low speed to incorporate ingredients. Gradually increase speed to medium-high until the mixture begins to thicken. It takes at least 7 to 9 minutes for the butter to be completely incorporated.

Put the icing in a plastic container with a lid and refrigerate. It will keep for 1 week in the refrigerator or freeze for 2 months.

Note: Don't panic if the buttercream looks like cottage cheese. The more you beat this buttercream, the creamier it gets.

Pastry Cream

2 1/4 cups whole milk

6 large egg yolks

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

In medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup milk, egg yolks, 1/3 cup sugar, and cornstarch.

Transfer remaining 1 3/4 cups milk to heavy medium saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean and add the pod. Add remaining 1/3 cup sugar over.

Set pan over moderate heat and bring to simmer without stirring.

Whisk hot milk mixture. Whisk half the milk into the egg yolk mixture. Pour everything back into the saucepan with milk. Cook over moderate heat, whisking constantly, until pastry cream thickens. Remove from heat, discard vanilla pod, and whisk cream until smooth. Transfer to bowl and press plastic wrap directly onto surface. Chill until cold, about 4 hours. (Pastry cream can be made ahead and refrigerated, wrapped well with plastic wrap on surface, up to 3 days.)

Simple Syrup
2 cups water

2 cups sugar

1 Tbsp vanilla

Liquor of choice (optional)

Boil water and sugar until all the sugar dissolves. Add vanilla and liquor (such as calvados, kirsch or amaretto, depending on the flavors of your cake). Cool before use.

This keeps in the fridge for at least two weeks.

Vegan risotto!

This was another leftovers dish, because I thought I had way more veggies in the house than I actually did. Frozen peas and sundried tomato risotto it was!!

I have never understood chefs that insist risotto needs a ton of butter. It may be traditional, and I certainly love butter, but this is one dish that's so good with just olive oil and a generous amount of white wine for flavor!

Saute half a yellow onion in said olive oil, with about 4 cloves of finely chopped garlic. Add arborio rice and stir till it starts to become translucent. At this point I add about a cup of white wine at the beginning and and then about a ladle full of veggie broth every time the rice looks like it's almost absorbed all the liquid. Keep stirring and adding broth until the rice is cooked (several cups of broth, depending on the amount of rice you use).

Stir in chopped sundried tomatoes and peas. If the peas are still frozen add a little bit at a time and mix, so that the risotto doesn't get cold.

Optionally add a tablespoon or so of nutritional yeast for a cheesy flavor.

If there are leftovers, they re-heat well with a little water added (the rice will absorb more liquid as it sits in the fridge). Not too much though, or the consistency will be mush.

It's plum cake season!!

I love plum cake! It reminds me of my childhood, even though I didn't eat it then because the skins grossed me out. The German traditional version is a yeast cake, but I couldn't find my yeast, so I made a hazelnut frangipane tart instead, and it is delicious... and quite a bit richer! (That's a scoop of vanilla Coconut Bliss on the side! Yum!)

Turns out that yellow plates make food look dead. My friend Domenic returned his fiestaware for this reason. I can't go that far, because I love the colors in real life... they just don't photograph well! So iphoto had to provide some technicolor enhancement here, to at least make this tart look funky, if not entirely natural! :) Like the pictures in my mom's TimeLife cookbooks from the 70's.

Plum Tart!

Butter a 10 inch tart pan.

make crust:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or more all purpose, but the whole wheat adds a nice nutty flavor)

1/3 cup sugar

pinch of salt

2 sticks cold, unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/4 cup cold water

2 large egg yolks

Pulse dry ingredients in a food processor. Add the butter and mix, about 10 seconds or so. While the machine is on, drizzle in the water and add the yolks. The dough should hold together so you can roll it out. You might have to add more water or more flour to adjust the consistency.

Ideally the dough should rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, so that it can relax and become more elastic. I didn't have time for this so I didn't roll it out but pressed a thin layer into my tart pan, which worked out fine.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Filling:

2 lbs of plums (Italian are nice, or you can mix varieties). Cut in half and remove pits. Set aside.

Optional: spread a thin layer of plum jam or plum butter on the unbaked pie crust.

Frangipane:

1 stick butter

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

a pinch of salt

1-2 tablespoons amaretto

1/2 cup almond flour

1/2 cup hazelnut flour

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

In the same food processor bowl you used for the crust, mix the butter and sugar until combined. Add eggs, salt and amaretto. Add your 3 flours and mix to make a smooth paste.

Spread the paste into the tart crust. Arrange the plums, skin side down. The closer together they sit, the juicier the tart will be!!

Sprinkle with some sugar and cinnamon, and maybe a few slivered almonds.