Four. That’s the number of times I’d tried to make Lori Longbotham’s Ultimate Lemon Pound Cake. It’s also the number of times I have been reduced to a quivering, demoralized failure on account of it. The thing never — and I mean never — would come out of the pan for me, and it would either be too brown on the outside or mush inside. While the cake does make an excellent base for trifle, I’d begun to have a highly antagonistic, somewhat unhealthy relationship with the recipe. I couldn’t stop myself from going back to it every now and then, hoping that all those past misunderstandings could be left aside, one of us would finally realize the error of our ways, and the cake would come out perfectly. Maybe we all have recipes like that…for whatever reason, the stars never line up correctly and they fail over and over, while you sit dolefully in the corner and whack your head against the butcher block, wondering what you keep doing wrong.

While some may be tempted to stretch that metaphor even further (to personal relationships, perhaps?), let me say instead that unlike my dear Moz, I did get what I wanted this time. At least in terms of pound cake. And I am here to sing the praises of Ultimate Lemon Pound Cake at last. Whether it was that whispered incantation over the Kitchenaid, the half-inch of Crisco I smeared on the pan so the bloody thing wouldn’t stick again, or just dumb luck, who cares — victory is mine, all mine!

I suppose my slightly unhinged gushing might sound a bit silly to someone who is lucky to never screw up a recipe, or who (wisely?) doesn’t keep returning to one that only makes her feel like a schlump. But there are few things sweeter than the rush of success after many failures, so I intend to milk this little triumph for as long as possible. The cake has a beautifully tight golden crumb and delicious tart lemony flavor, thanks to being generously soaked in lemon syrup. Since I made the cake for a party, I added a cosmetically-enhancing confectioner’s sugar glaze, but it was really unnecessary as the cake is lemony and delicious enough without it.

I think I’ve said about enough, though — it really is just about perfect. And maybe striving for perfection really can pay off, as long as you don’t mind pounding away a little dignity in exchange.

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Baking | 6 Comments »

I took a little drive yesterday and ended up vaguely lost somewhere in Braddock, where the street was lined with older, slightly run-down homes and a few boarded-up storefronts. As I turned on to a gravelly road in order to go back in the direction I’d come, I was astonished to see that it led to an absolutely stunning set of murals. If I hadn’t picked that particular street in which to turn my car around, I would have missed them completely.

One of the squares was painted to promote the local aviary, but I can’t imagine why this place was chosen — it didn’t seem to be a very high-traffic area, and the adjacent underpass was littered with broken beer bottles, cigarette butts, and various bits of detritus. I would love to know the story of how they got there. Are people in Braddock especially fond of the aviary? Was this part of an outreach endeavor? The art was in vivid, flawless condition, so I’m inclined to guess that the work was done recently (within the past year?). Whatever the case, I was thrilled to have discovered them.

General | 2 Comments »

I spent a recent weekend in DC for the cherry blossom festival, and was fortunate to have absolutely splendid weather and even lovelier company. Although it wasn’t necessarily a food-centric trip, I did get to visit the Dupont Circle farmer’s market (next time I’m bringing a cooler!), and an adorable bistro called Montmartre that had excellent moules with chorizo. One of the friends that I stayed with also gave me some containers of duck fat that she’d brought back from her home in Bordeaux. Let me say that it is wonderful to meet someone new who within four hours knows me well enough to understand why I would get excited about a jar of fat. Duck confit, anyone?

Before my little retreat, though, I made a big batch of caramel bars to liven up some stressed-out, anxious-for-spring moods. These are probably rich enough to be called candies, but who says you can’t celebrate spring with rich caramel and dark chocolate? The recipe was particularly interesting in that that it uses some ingredients that are a little atypical for me — the base is made with saltine crackers (!) and the caramel layer uses condensed milk — not from my normal camp of obsessively-made-from-scratch endeavors. But I was sweetly rewarded for not turning my nose up at these little gems. They are hardly less elegant looking (or tasting) than the usual make-your-own caramel bars, and so bloody easy it’s practically a crime not to have them in your repertoire, especially for holidays or times when you need to feed a lot of people on short notice. Perhaps if forced to choose, I’d admit a slight preference toward the make-you-own version, but that’s not to say I wouldn’t make these again in a heartbeat. I squirreled a container away in the freezer to nibble on, cold, when my caramel jones strikes at odd hours.

The bars are very rich, so I recommend cutting them into quarters. The recipe makes quite a bit — around 40 bite-size bars — so they really are perfect for a crowd.

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Baking, Candy Land, Eating Elsewhere | 6 Comments »

So much for the attempt to revitalize myself from hibernation mode. I don’t know if I’m the only one who felt this way, but February sure was rough. It wasn’t because of any specific personal difficulty — I just found myself struck with a rotten case of that most Februaryish of moods: general malaise. And it seems to have taken nearly all of March to recover…which isn’t so bad, really, since that’s the month when spring officially comes to town and birthdays of friends and family start appearing on the calendar. If March ever fails to get me back on my feet again, I’ll know it’s time to think about moving South.

So I made these chocolate Guinness cupcakes, not for St. Paddy’s day, but for a tipply colleague who requested Guinness cake for her birthday. They don’t taste alcoholic at all; the Guinness just contributes a bit of maltiness and depth. You can use any stout, of course, not just Guinness, but since I don’t usually keep beer in the house, I stopped at a bar on the way home to get a can. Let me issue a warning that going up to a bar and ordering one can of Guinness to go might have some unintended consequences, such as the bartender looking at you sympathetically and asking “Just one can? To go? Are you having a good day, sweetie?” Good grief. Maybe I should have told him it was for my “secret experiment”.

Anyway, although there are several recipes for Guinness cake out there, I decided to use Nigella’s recipe. It seemed to be one of the most popular of the bunch, with the added bonus of an honest-to-goodness pastry chef endorsement: Shuna of Eggbeater wrote about it earlier this month. She’s spot on when she says that the cake is incredibly moist and sticky, not to mention having one of the easiest preparation methods ever. They were a big hit with everyone. I love these cupcakes with their tangy cream cheese frosting, but I bet they’d look pretty slick with a shiny chocolate glaze, too.

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Baking | 3 Comments »

It feels strange to be writing about eggplant in February, but at the grocery store, there was a beautiful purple stack of them with a sticker from a local grower — Lady Moon Farms. Or so I thought. I bought them without giving it much thought, reasoning that they must have been grown in an enormous, magical Pennsylvania greenhouse. A few days later, though, reason and reality had set in, so a bit of sleuthing led me to the truth: Lady Moon has land in Florida, which is surely where my magical eggplants originated. Although I do try to buy food in season when possible, I can be susceptible to temptation…but at least this time, the weakness was directed towards a product from a family farm that started (and still produces food) in PA. How’s that for self-absolution?

So even though my eggplants didn’t have a supernatural provenance, they did star in this almost-supernaturally-good eggplant salad. It’s from Claudia Roden’s cookbook, Arabesque, which features recipes from Turkey, Morocco, and Lebanon — three cuisines that certainly know their way around an eggplant. In this salad, they are roasted in the oven until meltingly tender, then combined with some cooked tomatoes (canned ones work fine), lots of garlic, parsley, cilantro, olive oil, and a little bit of cumin. The result is a luscious vegetarian puree that would be terrific as part of a Middle Eastern-themed meal, if you can manage not to gobble it all down before your guests arrive. Summer might be far yet, but I’m already thinking of all the picnics to plan, just so this salad can join me.

Mashed Eggplant and Tomato Salad - Zaalouk
Adapted from Arabesque by Claudia Roden

2 pounds eggplants
juice of half a lemon
1 pound fresh tomatoes, coarsely chopped (or 6 canned plum tomatoes with their juice, chopped)
4 cloves garlic, chopped
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon paprika
pinch of crushed Aleppo or cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
black olives, for garnish

Heat the oven to 475ºF.
Prick the eggplants with a fork several times to keep them from bursting, then place on a baking sheet covered with foil. Roast for 40-50 minutes, or until the skin is wrinkled and they are very soft. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. When cool enough to handle, peel the eggplants and drop them in a bowl of water with a few teaspoons of lemon juice added to keep the flesh pale.

While the eggplants are roasting, cook the tomatoes with the garlic and some salt over low heat for about 20 minutes, until reduced to a thick sauce. Set aside.

Drain the eggplants in a metal colander, pressing out as much water as possible. While still in the colander, chop the flesh and mash it with a fork, letting more juice escape.

Combine mashed eggplant with tomato sauce and the rest of the ingredients, and add salt to taste (I needed a lot, so don’t be too sparing).

Spread on a plate or shallow bowl and garnish with olives. Serve at room temperature. Serves 3-4 as a first course or mezze.

Salads & Sides, Savory Dips & Extras | 9 Comments »

If these look slightly familiar, it’s true — they’re a hazelnut version of the almond and chocolate sandwich cookies I made about a year ago. It’s a great, simple recipe for sandwich cookies, and notable because you don’t have to roll the cookies out. That’s right, the only thing I dislike about making sandwich cookies has been completely eliminated! And if you have a very small scoop (like this one), there’s really no excuse at all not to make them.

When I first tasted the cookies, I worried that the toasted hazelnut might have been little bit too bitter, especially combined with a thick filling of bittersweet chocolate, but my co-workers sure proved me wrong. To my delight, everyone wolfed them down in a snap, so I clearly shouldn’t underestimate them! Like many of my favorite recipes, this one is open to play and variation, which makes them all the more fun. Try other nuts, and fill them with whatever you like - dulce de leche, Nutella, raspberry jam…or how about some ice cream for tiny ice cream sandwiches?

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Baking, General | 10 Comments »