Need an easy artichoke heart mixture to serve to guests that’s tasty and very quick to put together? And has no mayo or sour cream in it?

This recipe has been in my arsenal for years, from a decades-ago class I took from Joanne Weir. I’d forgotten all about it, but noticed that it didn’t have a photo attached to it (this in my MasterCook software program I use for all my recipes). That’s an automatic signal that I took the class long before I began taking a quick pix of the food when I attended the class. It also meant I’d not written it up here on my blog either! Since it’s an easy recipe to make, I chose to include it for a dinner party we were having recently.

Making it the day before is no problem – in fact it helped me to get at least one dish done ahead of time. This topping/dip keeps for about a week or so. In the class Joanne just chopped up the ingredients on a cutting board. It calls for canned or defrosted artichoke hearts, not marinated type, a few brined grape leaves, garlic, green olives –  Joanne called for picholine but I couldn’t find that type the day I went shopping so I used a plain green olive – some Parmigiano cheese, lemon juice and just a little bit of EVOO to smooth it out. That’s IT. Easy, huh? Changing the type of olive in this would likely change the flavor profile a little bit. Don’t use kalamata – they would overpower the mixture. Don’t use ripe olives, and don’t use the green stuffed olives either.

When I made this I used the food processor – I was into “easy” that day. If you’d prefer a bit more texture to the spread, then definitely do the mince and chop version. Do allow the mixture to refrigerate for a few hours – so the garlic isn’t so harsh and it has time to permeate it all.

What’s GOOD: how easy it is to make, plus it keeps for awhile. Make it 2 days ahead – that’s fine too. Very tasty – you definitely know it’s artichoke hearts but you can’t exactly pick out the grape leaves (it adds just a little bit of sharpness) along with the lemon juice. Very delish appetizer that I’ve made over and over.
What’s NOT: you might not have brined/jarred grape leaves on hand (I didn’t) but I found them easily enough at my local upscale market. And you might not have the right olives – but I substituted some other small green olives instead.

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It’s been some years now that I’d been reading about Rancho Gordo beans. About how they’re just the best out there. Fresh dried. Premium beans. Heirloom beans and worth the price to mail order them. I had to find out, and this is the first soup I’ve made from them.

You’ve probably read about them just as I have. Rancho Gordo. A company out of Napa, California. They are a small company with a mission – from their website they explain . . .

Heirloom beans are the foundation of Rancho Gordo. I remember the first time I ate a Rio Zape and was shocked at how much better it was than the average pinto bean. I did a little more research and soon realized that I hadn’t even scratched the surface. There are hundreds of heirloom beans waiting to be discovered. My thinking is the best way to save these beans is by eating them and letting people see that even though the yields are lower and they aren’t as uniform as industrial red kidneys, they are more than worth the bother. [. . . from Steve Sando, founder of Rancho Gordo]

My friend Cherrie agreed to share the order with me – I think I bought 4 varieties of their heirloom beans. I read about all of them and decided to try a few first before I placed another order. They produce lots of different types, and when they run out; well, they’re gone until next season. As I make anything with the other varieties I ordered, I’ll tell you about it. As of this writing, the beans are $5.95 a pound, and they charge a flat fee of $10-12 to ship, so it’s best to buy several and make that shipping fee count.

Each package weighed a pound. So with sharing, I ended up with 1/2 pound, which was just fine for my first heirloom bean soup.

I wrote a note on the baggie about the tepary bean – on the shipping packet it said they were a meaty bean, great in salads, to look for debris and to use a simple preparation. Also it said they’d keep until 2015.

On their website it says this about the tepary bean:

Teparies are indigenous to North America and were developed by Native Americans to be drought-tolerant. Higher in protein and fiber than other beans (which are already super foods), what more can you ask for in food? Flavor and texture? You got it! The small beans plump up a bit but keep a meaty, dense texture. Can you tell we’re smitten? The beans are savory but the white version tends to be slightly sweet. Tepary beans look like lentils but they have nothing in common with lentils other than their small, compact size. In fact, they take as long to cook as an average-sized bean.

So, I made soup. I allowed the beans to soak in cold water overnight. I drained the water off and added them to the soup I started. I made the soup in my new Breville Risotto Cooker, on the slow cooker/low setting – this after I’d sautéed some onion, added garlic for just a minute, then added a bunch of stock. Now, I happened to use Penzey’s soup base because I always have it on hand. I used pork, but chicken is probably more common. I had a ham hock from our Berkshire pig that had almost NO meat on it, but it provided ample flavor, which was a good thing. I added dried thyme and dried oregano too, plus a big can of tomatoes and let that sit in the slow cooker for a few hours. I kept testing the beans because no way was I going to let them over cook and get mushy! I wanted texture, and that’s exactly what I got.

What’s GOOD: love the chewy texture of the bean. If you overwhelm it with spices or seasonings, you’re not going to taste the bean at all, in which case you might as well use a grocery-store red bean. These are slightly smaller, kind of flat-ish, which is why they describe them as lentil-like, but only in appearance, not in taste or cooking. I liked these beans a lot and I’d order them again when/if I do place another order. The soup was delish – good for a cold winter’s day. Nothing exceptional; just good, old-fashioned stick-to-your-ribs simple soup.
What’s NOT: for some, buying mail order dried beans may sound ridiculous (and expensive). But I’m always interested in buying things that are DIFFERENT, and these surely fit that description.

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Although this picture may not wow you with its color artistry, all I can tell you, bottom line, it’s ultimately a creamy, smooth, oozing risotto, filled with umami flavors. I served it with salmon, but it could be a meal unto itself.

Below you will find this recipe in two versions – one made on the stovetop, which is what most people will do – and another revised slightly for the Breville risotto cooker that I used. This recipe is one I’ve made for at least 3 decades, and was my first introduction to risotto, way back in the early 1980s. I can’t say that I’ve made it more than a dozen times, just because risotto is so high in carbs and it (used to) require so MUCH standing at the stove, stirring and stirring.

At the time, I had attended a cooking class at a then-popular cooking school called Ma Cuisine, and Tarla Fallgatter taught the class, and made risotto as well as osso buco (a recipe I’ve never posted, and suppose I should!). I’d read about risotto, never had it, and merely said to myself “no way” would I stand in front of the stove for 30-45 minutes, stirring and adding broth until it was just done. Arborio rice was very, very hard to find back then – only one upscale market carried it and at a very hefty price. Champagne, then, was a splurge, and to think of using it in rice was almost over-the-top. But when the class was served the results – oh my gosh, it was just SO good. I became a convert, and made this many times, usually when someone was visiting, who would help with the stirring. Our friend Russ was a frequent visitor for dinner then, and he was a willing helper, being the one to get a spa facial as he stood over the big frying pan stirring.

Jump forward to 2014. My DH bought me for Christmas (at my suggestion) the Breville BRC600XL The Risotto Plus Sautéing Slow Rice Cooker and Steamer. A splurge, for sure, for a device to make risotto, but I’ve used it to make rice (just regular stuff) and I’ve used it as a slow cooker too to make a bean soup (it has a slow cooker low and high function). It also has a sauté function which means you can cook the onions or leeks or shallots or whatever, in the same pan without dirtying up more dishes.

To make this risotto in the Breville risotto cooker I did all the same steps, really, except I reduced the amount of broth I added – although I ended up adding almost all of it by the time it was served. What I didn’t want was too-soupy risotto and having not made this in the Breville before, I was hesitant to add it all at once. It’s easy enough to ADD more fluid. Not possible to remove any! I don’t use expensive champagne or sparkling wine – just something drinkable, and certainly not a bottle worth $1.99 either. Usually I use Prosecco (because we usually have some on hand and it’s very inexpensive). You want a dry taste, though, not something sweet. Some Proseccos would be too sweet – so watch that.

When the Risotto Cooker is in the cooking process (on the Risotto setting) it boils furiously. In fact, it boils so fast I wonder each time if it’s not going to be ruined. But it isn’t. Certainly it boils at a full rolling boil – a much higher heat than you’d use if you were making it the traditional way. And yet, when it’s done, well, it’s just absolutely PERFECT. The asparagus was partially pre-cooked, so I added it into the risotto about 2/3 of the way through its 30-minute cooking. Next time I’d cook the asparagus completely and add it in at the very end, just long enough to heat it through. As soon as the risotto cooker gives a warning, it switches to low and that’s when I added the little bit of cream, butter, and Parmesan. (You don’t know how long it’s going to cook – there isn’t a timer to view, but you can estimate 30 minutes.) Every time I’ve made risotto in this, it’s been at that perfection stage immediately when it dings – and I wish I’d been absolutely ready to serve up plates. It took me another 5 minutes or so to toss the green salad with Garlic VIP Dressing, dish up the garlic green beans and finish the sauce for the Salmon with Orange and Leeks that I served with it. I added about another 1/3 cup of hot broth to the risotto to get it back to that almost soupy texture and dinner was served.

This could easily be an entrée unto itself, if you choose to; I made it to accompany a meal. I made it to serve 8, but since we served buffet style, people didn’t take as much risotto as I’d anticipated, so we still have at least another 4 or more servings left over. I may make risotto cakes out of them. Once cooled, the rice is fairly thick and the creaminess has totally disappeared. To reheat, you’ll need to add more broth to thin it out. It certainly won’t be as good as the first round, but it’s actually okay for a family meal.

What’s GOOD: what’s there not to like about risotto? It was delicious, as it’s been every time I’ve ever made this. You’ll enjoy the asparagus in it and probably won’t be able to identify any other flavors except the Parmesan cheese. If you serve this to risotto fans, I guarantee they’ll like it. By making it in my Breville Risotto Cooker, I was able to work on other last-minute things.
What’s NOT: really nothing. Not exactly healthy, though – there is butter and cream in this, albeit, not a lot. If you make it the traditional way, have someone else help do the stirring and adding of the broth. It’s not difficult work to do, but requires someone to be there all the time, hovering.

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Just guessing here, but I suppose nearly every well known chef, especially those who are bakers, need to have their own chocolate chip cookie recipe. One that’s just slightly different than others. One that’s either a little more crispy or soft. A little more light colored or dark. Or with caramel, or sea salt. Maybe different nuts. These aren’t that much different than lots of others.

Chocolate chip cookies are mostly a staple around our house. Normally I have a stash of them in the freezer. My DH knows where they hang out and when his blood sugar goes really low, he’s been known to go grab one. But I haven’t had any in the freezer for months. Instead of making one of the usual ones (my favorites – see them highlighted down below), I thought I’d try a new one. This one I got from the Amateur Gourmet blog, but it is Nancy Silverton’s recipe.

What’s different in these? (1) they have more butter in proportion than most; (2) they use bittersweet chocolate rather than semisweet; (3) they require refrigeration before baking; and (4) they’re baked at a lower temperature than most.

As for the taste – you’ll notice the bittersweet flavor – which I like, actually. But even with that, I thought these cookies were too sweet. At least they’re too sweet for me. If I made them again (but I probably won’t) I’d reduce the white sugar. On the rare occasions when I buy or am offered a high-end bakery chocolate chip cookie I notice – almost always – they’re sweeter than even the Tollhouse recipe. Regular (more low-end, like grocery store) bakeries use more sugar to compensate for using inferior or low-end butter, shortening or margarine. Somehow I think they rationalize that if the cookies are sweeter we won’t notice the inferior taste. That’s not the case here, as these use more butter than usual.

The original recipe makes a cookie that is really large – the recipe below was written to serve 24 cookies. I made the cookies smaller (more normal sized) just because when I grab a cookie, I don’t want to eat a ginormous cookie. So I got about 45 cookies, or so.

What’s GOOD: well, they were just okay. I did like the bittersweet chocolate in them, but that’s really about all I liked about them. I’d still go back to my favorite CC cookie recipes (why didn’t I this time, I wonder?), the Chocolate Chip Cookie from Silver Moon Bakery, or the One Bowl Thin Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. The former is a higher mounded cookie, and the 2nd one is quite thin. Both have my preferred proportion of butter to brown and white sugar in them. Both are more reminiscent of Tollhouse, I think, but I prefer them both to the Tollhouse recipe. This cookie has less brown sugar, yet they’re still too sweet, so they’re more like a white batter CC cookie, which isn’t my preferred type, for sure.

What’s NOT: read above.

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A very easy side dish – and a great way to use up an over-the-hill banana, if you happen to have one in your kitchen.

Different cultures use different ingredients in their cuisine. In the Caribbean, obviously, they grow tons of bananas, even some different varieties of them, so it’s kind of logical that they would combine sweet potatoes with bananas to make a side dish.

This rendition of them came from a cooking class my cyber-friend Nance went to, back about 20 years ago in the Chicago area. Some people might think any dish like this should only be served near Thanksgiving (it does have some recipe-similarity with a sweet potato casserole, although this surely has no marshmallows on top, nor does it contain pecans). I served it with a juicy grilled steak. It was so darned easy – I baked the sweet potatoes (the orange fleshed type) in my handy-dandy Breville toaster oven (love that thing!) for about 40 minutes. I let them cool for 10-15 minutes as they were hot as the dickens. In a bowl that had somewhat of a flat bottom I mashed them up with the banana that I’d cut into coin-chunks. I added butter, nutmeg and cinnamon. The recipe indicated adding brown sugar, but on tasting this, I decided they were already super-sweet already, probably because of the very-much over-the-hill banana. I added a little salt and it was done.

Since we weren’t eating that very second, I put them in the casserole dish you see above and put them in the toaster oven at 250°F. The only thing I discovered was that if these sit awhile – like the 15 minutes mine did – they almost get firm, so in the recipe below I’ve added in one little hint to add some milk to them if you’re going to try to keep them at all before serving. Thanks for the recipe, Nance.

What’s GOOD: how easy these were to make. And very, very tasty with the banana. I used 2 large sweet potatoes and 1 small banana, and you definitely could taste the banana. If you reduced slightly the banana proportion, you might not be able to pick out the banana flavor. You do need a ripe banana, or it would not mash well. I scaled down the spices a little bit too – I thought just a little bit was plenty for us, and it tasted delicious. I’ll definitely make this again.

What’s NOT: nothing really, unless you don’t have the ripe banana on hand.

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A sauce – a relish – a kind of a salsa – to serve over fish, chicken or even beef. Made with fresh tomatoes, canned roasted red bell  peppers and a bunch of aromatic stuff, plus some capers.

The other night my DH and our friend Joe wanted a steak for dinner. I defrosted some filet mignon steaks for them (I had a salad instead), but thought since Joe was providing a really nice bottle of Cabernet, I should do something a little extra, so I made this relish.

Ideally, I think this relish would go best with fish or chicken, but there’s no reason it’s not good with beef or pork either. The recipe came from a cyber friend of mine, Nance, who sent me a 200-page pdf the other day of recipes she had compiled from attending cooking classes back in the 1990’s. I slowly went through the full 200 pages and printed out about 30 or so that included recipes I wanted to try. This being one of them.

The recipe made a big batch, with some rather vague measurements, so I kind of guessed at reducing this down to an amount to serve 4 people. Actually, I think this relish is a bit forgiving in some respects. It came from a brewery in Barrington, Illinois called Millrose Brewery. So the notes said, their favorite is to serve this with swordfish. The notes said the most important aspects of this relish are CAYENNE, LEMON JUICE and GARLIC. So once you make it, taste it, and add more of those 3 things if you think it’s lacking anything. The relish comes together in a flash – if you have some jarred roasted red bell peppers. I buy those small on-the-vine tomatoes this time of year for sure, and they were quite tasty in this. It took about 7-8 minutes to make, if that.

What’s GOOD: how quick it was to make. How tasty it was on the beef. But it all depends on the quality of the tomatoes (important). Do use fresh lemon juice. And the capers, of course, add tons of flavor to anything. It will keep for 7-10 days, but ideally it’s best a few hours after making it.

What’s NOT: nothing at all.

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Hen-of-the-wood(s) mushrooms don’t grow everywhere – this one and the others pictured here were grown in Massachusetts. They’re delicious if you didn’t know . . .

We  have a very dear friend, Joe Casali, who comes to stay with us regularly when he’s calling on customers in our area. He’s great fun to have around, and I usually cook a nice dinner when he’s here. Joe enjoys good food (and he and Dave are always chit-chatting about wine, which is an important part of every evening meal, but particularly so when Joe is here). This time he brought a gorgeous bottle of 1995 Markham Cabernet and a package of his mushrooms, and there’s quite a story here. My DH and Joe go sailing together often on our boat in San Diego, sometimes with Joe’s wife Yvette too  (I don’t go because I get seasick). Joe and Dave were once in business together, decades ago, and they roomed together back in the late 1970s for awhile. Both were jolly bachelors at the time.

Joe is Italian. Very Italian. He grew up in Massachusetts. His grandparents came over from the old country in the early 1900s and settled in Springfield, Mass., in the Italian district there, then later to East Longmeadow. Growing up in the 1950s Joe watched his grandmother Paulina and his mother Viola as they cooked food from their region in Italy – Emilia-Romagna. The family was from Piacenza (actually the town of Morfasso, in the mountains nearby) where the town is mostly made up of Casalis and Rigolis. It was at his Grandmother Paulina’s knee that he learned all about the mushrooms. Hen-of-the-wood is a Grifola frondosa polypore mushroom if you’re interested in the etymology. Over time in Joe’s family the mushroom name got kind of scrambled, and they call them grafoni.

Sometimes, apparently, in the East, in October, you can buy these mushrooms at Whole Foods. The last time Joe knew, they were charging $40/pound for them. See why they’re prized? – except that most people don’t know that much about them.

Hen-of-the-woods mushrooms are both revered and reviled (the latter only because some don’t know what a delicacy they really are and because some view them as eyesores in their pristine yards). If you go online and do a search for the mushrooms and click on images, you’ll find hundreds of pictures of them in all their delicate glory, nestled on or at the base of big trees, mostly oaks.  Joe doesn’t know if these mushrooms also grow in the region of his family in Italy, but for

sure these immigrants learned to use them in Massachusetts. For years Joe has been flying to Mass. every September or October, to harvest hundreds and hundreds of pounds of these amazing mushrooms. Joe borrows a friend’s car and heads out to hunt mushrooms. Joe has an Excel spreadsheet that he’s developed over the years of locations of these mushrooms (because they grow in the same place year after year – he showed it to me awhile back – he has notes about taking this footpath, go 50 feet to this tree, cross the stream, turn left, etc.). He’s made friends with a few people within a 20-30 mile radius of his family home there and they leave the mushrooms intact waiting for Joe’s trip to harvest. Most of them are in forests and glades, or a vacant lot studded with trees. Joe’s dad knew the locations of these mushrooms and over the years Joe has found more and more of them.

Joe’s father was a member of an an Italian club – a club that actually still has a clubhouse. Can you tell there is a strong Italian population there? Joe is allowed to use the kitchen (he’s a member in good standing, though he only goes there once a year) to fix his mushrooms. Joe hardly sleeps during this several day period – he harvests a trunk full of them, goes to the clubhouse and starts cooking and cooks late into the night. Then the next day he goes out for more and repeats. He has a freezer there, too, that is used for his mushroom harvest. When he’s done he packs the frozen plastic containers in dry ice in a couple of big ice chests and flies home with his mushroom haul to California. One year he prepared 61 quart containers of cooked mushrooms.

There’s Joe with the 17-pounder. He ever so carefully cleans and slices them. The center is also used completely. He cooks them in individual batches. Joe has kindly given me the recipe he uses.

The other night he brought one container from his last harvest – it’s enough to feed about 8 people. Dinner was steak, sweet potatoes, these mushrooms, green salad, and some of that wonderful Dario’s Olive Oil Cake for dessert.

The sauce – well, it’s simple enough to make. Joe carefully cleans, trims and cuts the mushrooms into jillions of pieces. He sautés garlic and onions, then adds all the mushrooms, then canned Roma tomatoes with a little bit of juice. It’s seasoned with lots of fresh basil (that he quick dry roasts in the oven) added in just at the end of cooking. The mushrooms aren’t swimming in sauce – the minimal amount of canned tomatoes are there just to flavor them. They’re packed up in containers almost dry, but not quite. Above you can see there is some liquid – but very, very little. You reheat them over very low heat and serve as a side dish. Thank you, Joe, for sharing the story and the recipe. I hope your mother and grandmother would be proud!

What’s GOOD: harvesting your own food of any kind is cool. I can’t take credit for any of that. Joe did all the work. The mushrooms are very tasty – chewy, but not overly so. The sauce is not overwhelming at all – what is there is flavoring only. It’s all about the mushrooms, for sure.
What’s NOT: well, since we don’t live in an area to get these, too bad for us! We’ll have to rely on our friend Joe to bring us one of his precious stock.

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So far this year I haven’t urged you, fervently, to cook or bake anything I’ve written up. This recipe is my first fervent call! Oh my goodness, this cake is so darned good. No wonder it was featured in the 2013 L.A. Times top recipe round-up. Read on . . .

The Los Angeles Times may be the only daily newspaper that still has a working test kitchen. As an institution, newspaper test kitchens have kind of slid into oblivion with the cost-cutting going on at nearly every major daily in the country. It’s so sad. I used to look forward to reading the big – really big – food section back a couple of decades ago. The Times still has a food section, but oh, it’s so small. I do read it online occasionally. Most newspapers rely on a bevy of written offerings from a variety of free lance food writers who prepare short stories and provide pictures. So the food editors need only pick and choose, within budget, to include this article, that article, decide which one to “feature,” which ones to discard.

Our more local newspaper, the Orange County Register, doesn’t have a test kitchen. The kitchen shown in occasional articles is the Food Editor’s home kitchen, with photos taken usually by one of the staff photographers. And my guess is that her budget doesn’t allow that very often.

But fortunately, the L.A. Times still tests recipes, still writes articles and has a small coterie of writers who write only for that paper. Like Russ Parsons. Who is likely reaching retirement age. I’ll be sad not to read his short stories when that happens. One of the food writing events at the Times is the annual best-recipe contest. The food section staff cook and bake the “best” recipes from the previous year and narrow them down and down and down. And the results are published in late January to great fanfare.

Anyway, back to this cake. The origin of it is Dario Cecchini’s butcher shop and restaurant deep in the heart of Tuscany – in Panzano in Chianti. It’s a cake his trusty baker Simonetta has been preparing daily for decades. Many people have written about it and there are a few recipes “out there” of a similar style. But this one – oh yes. This one that Nancy Silverton (of La Brea Bakery fame, and now Mozza restaurant) has revised and made possible for a home kitchen. Her recipe makes 2, so I tuned it down, dialed it back and made it for just ONE cake. Although – I’m telling you – maybe you should make TWO and freeze the other one. You’ll be glad . . . . .

Having made it and eaten it, I’ll just say there are very distinct things that are different about this cake: (1) naturally, that it’s made with olive oil as the fat, and GOOD extra virgin olive oil, at that; (2) that it contains 1 1/2 whole oranges, chopped up, peel, pith and all; and (3) the topping is different – sugar, pine nuts and fresh rosemary. And certainly this is a dessert cake, but somehow the pine nuts and fresh rosemary give it a savory tone. And it’s divine.

Raisins are in this cake – and you soak them in Vin Santo, if you have it. That’s an Italian dessert wine, and can vary a lot in sweetness from one winery to another. It’s a common little treat given to nearly everyone after dinner in restaurants in Italy. Well, I didn’t have any, so I scanned my liquor closet and finally settled on a very old bottle of tawny Port. It had faded to a light sherry color and had all kinds of lees in the bottle. I poured it through a sieve and had enough to soak the raisins for awhile. The raisins I have on hand right now are really large – jumbo size and from several varieties of grape, so they’re different colors – in the picture at top you can see one or two that had settled to the bottom of the batter. In the photo at top you can see the orange pith – but you absolutely don’t know you’re eating pith – it comes through clean and sweet.

The oranges are Navels, and I cut off the ends, cut them in half, then sliced into half-rounds and chopped to get a very nice mound of chopped orange stuff. I did that ahead. There at right was the plate full of oranges. It’s not necessary to do this in the food processor, although you can if you’d prefer. Just don’t pulverize them – it’s nice to bite into a little chunk of orange now and then in the finished cake.

The recipe calls for pastry flour. Since I didn’t have that on hand, I went online to read about it – all it means is flour that has lower protein, but not as low as cake flour, which is 7-8%. So, I mixed half all-purpose (10-12%) and half cake flour, to reach an approximate 9% protein, which is the level for pastry flour.

Mixing up the cake wasn’t difficult – eggs, the leavening and sugar were combined for several minutes in the stand mixer, then very slowly you pour the extra virgin olive oil down the side of the bowl and into the batter. If you go too fast it spatters anyway, and it might separate. Slow-slow. Then you add the soaked raisins and the flour mixture in 3 separate batches. Once that’s mixed, you turn off the mixer and use a spatula to fold in the oranges.

At this point you do something else a bit different – you let the batter rest for 10 minutes. Why, I don’t know. The only thing I can think of is that the batter is fairly thick, and in order to get the fruit (oranges and raisins) to not sink to the bottom of the tube pan (which they might do anyway) if they’re allowed to sink in the mixing bowl first, then when you pour it into the tube pan they’ll be at the top and perhaps not sink to the bottom before the lifting/leavening keeps them suspended. At any rate, the batter is poured into a buttered and floured tube pan.  You probably could use a springform pan, but the recipe indicates a tube pan – since the cake is dense (but not really heavy) it will cook more evenly in a tube pan. A Bundt pan will not work because those pans assume you’ll turn the cake upside down, and the top here IS the top in the finished cake. The cake top is sprinkled with granulated sugar (a really nice touch and you do taste it’s crunch in the finished cake), then toasted pine nuts and lastly you sprinkle on minced fresh rosemary, which sticks in the little crevices.

The baking was simple enough – but requires you to visit the oven every 10 minutes. It’s baked for 10 minutes at 400°, then you turn it down to 325° and bake another 10. Turn the pan around, and another 10, and another 10, until it’s baked a total of about 40 minutes. I should have measured the internal temp, but didn’t. The cake is cooled in the pan, then you’ll want to run a knife around the inner tube, and a spatula slid around the bottom to make sure the cake releases completely. Then you very, ever-so carefully turn the cake out onto your outstretched hand and forearm and carefully place it on a platter or cake plate. You will lose some of the pine nuts and sugar. The cook gets to eat those flying pine nuts (I only had about 10-15 of them fly off). My cake did have a few indentations – I suspect it’s from the amount of fruit. It did not detract one iota from the flavor. You’ll not care a bit.

At Mozza, Nancy Silverton makes this and serves it with olive oil gelato she’s developed. I’ll be trying that. It’ll be posted here if it’s good. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, I’m going to go cut myself another sliver of this outstanding cake.

What’s GOOD: oh gosh. Every single, solitary thing about this cake is exceptional. The taste – the oranges, the texture of the cake, which is light, surprisingly, the rosemary I loved, the pine nuts, and the sprinkling of sugar on the top that becomes slightly crunchy. Divine. Next time I am going to make sure I use small raisins – or I’ll chop the raisins – they were heavy so I think they did sink.
What’s NOT: nothing except you do need to have fresh oranges, and if you can find Vin Santo, fine. Otherwise use white port or a light port. Don’t use sherry – it would come through in the flavor. Do use really good olive oil too – this isn’t exactly a cheapo cake!

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Oh my goodness, is this ever fantastic. The problems with this are: (1) finding good, tender and rich brioche bread; and (2) keeping your fingers out of the finished pastry. They are just so delicious. The base is a thick slice of brioche bread (the one above is about 1/2 inch thick, maybe just slightly thicker), spread with a ground almond and butter mixture (an almond cream, it’s called), spread with a little bit of apricot jam, some almonds sprinkled on top and baked briefly, then generously sprinkled with powdered sugar.

The other morning we were at one of my book group meetings, at our friend Peggy’s establishment, (Peggy & Gary own it along with their son) Mead’s Green Door Café in old-town Orange. Every other month we meet at their little café and enjoy a latte or cappucino and some lovely treat Peggy has baked while we discuss our current book selection. Peggy and her husband used to own a restaurant in Orange, but sold it a few years ago and bought a derelict building and spent over a year renovating it to the Café it is now. Cute as a bug, Old-world style, country-ish, eclectic, offbeat, catering a lot to the young Chapman University crowd nearby. They serve vegetarian and vegan food only, with usually at least one GF item too. They specialize in breakfast and lunch. Peggy does 90% of the baking. Peggy’s #1 seller (of her pastries) is her sweet potato scone, which is delish also, I can attest!

This little number, which blew me away, is so easy to make. Disclaimer here – I didn’t make the one you see above – Peggy did. But it’s so very easy, I was fairly certain you wouldn’t mind me showing you hers. If I made this now, I’d be gobbling it down. The recipe came from Sunset Magazine (earlier last year). First you must start with good brioche. Maybe one of our local bakeries (like Panera or Corner Bakery) will have it – I’ll have to look. You slice it thick (the recipe said 1-inch; I think Peggy sliced hers closer to 1/2 inch. Anyway, thick brioche. Then you spread the top with a little apricot jam, then a mixture of butter, granulated sugar, salt, egg, and half-and-half that’s been whizzed  up in the food processor. Then the top is sprinkled with almonds and sugar. Baked for 20 minutes or so, sprinkled with powdered sugar. Done. Very easy. Very special.

What’s GOOD: certainly the taste is first and foremost! These things are just delish. Worth making. You can make the almond cream ahead and it will keep for several days. The almond cream makes more than what you’ll use to make 8 – so perhaps cut down on the quantity first time.

What’s NOT: really nothing.

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It’s a little hard to tell there’s a sauce on this but the mascarpone is what gives the pasta a shine (a shine in food means either fat or sugar). When this says “sauce” it doesn’t exactly mean it’s a “cream sauce” as in a cooked, thickened sauce made with cream. The mascarpone is the only creamy substance in this and it’s so very easy to just stir it (and toss and toss) into the hot pasta. It just melts. Yum.

There’s something about shrimp and pasta. They’re one of those matches that just work in the culinary world. The palate and taste rule here. Or maybe in this case it’s the mascarpone cheese which provides the bridge between the two. Whatever it is, it works. If you’re looking for something nice to fix for Valentine’s Day, this would be a good one. It satisfies, for sure, with the pasta, and the shrimp (especially if you buy big ones) make it a treat. The dish is NOT hard to make at all – just get everything ready ahead of time.

One unique thing here is the use of sliced garlic. At the cooking class with Phillis Carey, she explained that sliced garlic is her new go-to method. It doesn’t brown as fast (however, you do need to cook it over medium heat – higher than that and the garlic, no matter sliced or not – will burn, and that you don’t want). I have this gadget – Chef’n Garlic Slice. The photo I found at Williams-Sonoma, though the link is to amazon. It’s about $12.00, I think. Anyway, the peeled garlic cloves go into the top, you put the lid on and begin turning the top and thin, perfect slices come out the bottom. Bingo!

The sliced garlic isn’t quite as intense in flavor, either. So you can use a bit more than usual and not overwhelm the dish or someone’s palate.

Anyway, back to this dish. Shrimp are cleaned, deveined and if you choose, slice them in half (through the back so you have 2 perfect halves that curl up so cute when you cook them. Phillis calls them swans when they do that. Okay. Anyway, the shrimp are tossed with lemon zest, salt and pepper while they wait to be called to the pan. First you heat some butter in a nonstick pan (use a big one because everything goes in there eventually). The garlic is added and a tiny bit of red chili flakes and it’s cooked for a whopping minute. Then you add the shrimp and cook that for about 3 minutes, then add the dry white wine (Phillis used Pinot Grigio) and lemon juice briefly. I added some mushrooms to this – because I had them – and because I thought they’d taste good in this dish.

Meanwhile you will have cooked the linguine in very salted water until it’s just barely done but still with a bite (because you cook it some more in the pan). And it’s here where you must save some of the pasta cooking water because it’s used in conjunction with the mascarpone cheese to make the sauce. Lastly you add the pasta to the shrimp mixture, toss and toss and toss, then garnish with lemon zest and fresh basil, salt (maybe, but probably not) and pepper. This dish requires more salt than usual – if you don’t heavily salt the water, then add salt at the end.

Here’s where I detoured – I did add some Parmesan cheese. Just because I can. It added a nice fillip to the dish, I think. But you don’t have to. I also used a whole lot more basil because the original recipe calls for just 2 T of basil shreds. Definitely not enough. If you prefer, you could add Feta cheese to the pasta instead of Parm. That would be a very interesting combo – and a good one, I think. And I also added some sauteed mushrooms too – I cooked them in a separate pan in a little bit of butter, then re-added them to the finished dish to heat them through before adding the mascarpone, etc.

What’s GOOD: You don’t get the feeling (taste) that you’re eating a creamy pasta. This is nothing like using heavy cream, or a carbonara. There is just 1/2 cup in the entire dish that serves at least 3 people. It’s different – loved it with the shrimp. If you’re a bit light on the shrimp, cut them into pieces, but it looks quite pretty to serve it with the cute shrimp curls. Altogether delicious.
What’s NOT: nothing, really. I liked it from the get-go.

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