Happy Memorial Day!!!

What a day for outdoor-ness! Its is a blistering 29C/85 F here in Brooklyn today. I am looking forward to the first barbeque of well, my life here! Yes, people, I have never done or been to a barbecue in this country (camp fire ones not counted). Not surprising is it. I live in a city, so, no gardens and I don't anyone who has one.

You can well imagine how super excited I am about today. Oh, how come, you ask? Well, Brooklyn rocks! Thats all. The apartment has a tiny backyard that is shared between all the residents and we are friendly enough to share I found. Wow, right?!

So, before I decide have several people over and have a party and all that, I thought it might be a good idea to, ahem, test drive it and see if I am up to the whole standing in front of searing heat and cooking bit. Fortunately, in keeping with the heat and my lack of experience on the grill, I chose a fish for this first barbecue attempt. I will keep you guys posted on how it goes.

In the meantime, I wanted to share a lovely recipe for a light and easy cake that would be perfect for a barbecue or memorial day celebration you may be attending. It is a basic milk cake that is quick to put together and finished itself very fast. It is my version of Tres Leches without too much of the leche fuss. Grab the recipe for my Milk Cake with Berries.

Six Years have Passed!

This is the anniversary month of my blog. It has been with me for six years. Seriously! Six years! When I started, I had hardly envisioned this day. At some level, I may have seen it being a entertaining hobby. Scarce did I expect it to become an engaging profession! Sometimes I find it amazing that this has been my longest, steadfastly, passionate vocation. One that I saw no dip in interest, one that I see only continuing deeper involvement in the coming years.

Over the years, it has seen several sides of me from the hesitant toddler steps to the stomps of a teen to the ambitious marches of an young adult to the difficult metamorphosis into a responsible adult to the zealous entrepreneurship today. A true best friend, albeit silent, one who listens without judgement, always dependable through my flippant dithering, a home to come back to when I am done traipsing about, a place of rest, peaceful reflection, a serene sounding board for my torrid outburst, a quiet therapist to my introspective outpourings.

So, I think I must take time to celebrate another year of my growing solidarity with this blog.

When I say blog, it paraphrases for not the words and visuals but really all you readers. My blog is my space to express, indeed, but ever more than that it is my excuse to reach out and connect. And those qualities of a good friend, that isn't due of an abstract virtual space but rather the pulse of a real, living breathing person. Several persons. Some I have gotten to meet, know and cherish and many more of you I hope to in coming years.

And, so today, I want to take a beat and a post to thank all of you, each one of you, those who comment and those who don't, those who share and those who don't, those who read what I write, those who view my photos, those who tolerate my ramblings, those who recreate my recipes, those who tell me here or in mails what you really think, those who criticize, encourage and support me. Thank you for making my life full. Thank you for making my passion a vocation. Thank you for showing the patience that I did not possess. Thank you for being a friend in times of need and a partner in times of joy. Thank you for cheering my good moves and supporting my bad ones. Thank you for letting me find my way and being my beacon when I get lost.

Thank you, dear visitor, for making this blog, one of the dearest joys of my life!

To celebrate, I am sharing a recipe for brandied fruit rolls. I always have some brandied fruit in my pantry. This one was made with brandy (of course), cinnamon and saffron. I keep it in a glass jar buried in my pantry away from the light and simply top up the jar with more fruit and liquor and give it a good shake as I use up the stash. It is a handy pantry item that makes pretty much everything taste great, from bread puddings to ice cream toppings.

The rolls are a riff off these pesto ones or the traditional cinnamon rolls that are rather popular in the US. You can make this into a loaf if you prefer. I made this as rolls because they look like cupcakes and well, we are celebrating after all. Hope you enjoy these little bites!

---

Whole Wheat Brandied Fruit Rolls

For the dough:

1-1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 egg

1-1/4 tsp active dry yeast

4 T olive oil

1/3 cup warm milk

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

For the filling:

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup or so of drained brandied fruit

1 tsp grated nutmeg

In a bowl, soak the yeast in warm milk and set aside for a few of minutes until frothy. Whisk in the egg, oil, salt and sugar. Mix in a cup of flour. The dough will be very sticky, don't worry.

Set the dough in warm place to rise and double for an hour. Sift together the rest of the flour, baking soda and mix into the dough to form a pliable and soft dough which is very elastic. If the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour. Leave the dough in an oiled bowl and allow to proof for an hour or so in a warm spot.

Dump the dough onto a well floured surface, cover with bowl and let it sit for a minute or two. Roll out the dough into a rough rectangle, really thin and long. Sprinkle the sugar and nutmeg all over and then spread the brandied fruits.

Roll in the dough along the length as tightly as you can to form a log. Finish off by sealing the seam with a brush of oil.

Slice pieces of the roll to fit into cupcake molds. This recipe should make enough for 6 fat rolls.

Cover with cloth and proof for another 30 minutes during which preheat the oven to 400F.

Brush with oil and bake for 20 minutes until golden.

Serve with warm honey or cream.

A Pudding + Friday Links

One day as I was walking past a restaurant by me, I spied a banana bread pudding on the brunch menu. Now, after reading Bourdain's book, I am not sure, I want to eat brunch out again. Nevertheless, the idea captivated. Here was a non-traditional bread being used for making a brunch staple. Indeed, it was really cake being used. It makes in the way that American bread pudding is most often made with challah, brioche or other small crumbed, sweet and eggy bread.

Now, I liked the concept but clearly did not want to copy it. So I decided to change the base and add a few bells and whistles and call it my own. I have to caveat that I am NOT a bread pudding person. Rarely, have I come across one that is light and airy and most often I take eggs more than anything else in them. And, that is not the way I want to end the meal. Since then, I have had the fortune of indulging on a croissant pudding at the Old Ebbit Grill in DC and that was divine! I must recreate that soon. It had the perfect balance of soft and cakey with a little crunch (the croissant flakes I presume) while obviously enough egg had been added to hold it all together. It was most definitely not eggy.

Now that has become the hallmark for my attempts at making pudding. The quest to find just he right ratios. Less egg more milk yet still pudding.

I decided to play with

this carrot bread

. Since the bread was already sweet, I did not have to use more sugar in milk mixture. Also, I used a small egg. I get eggs from the farm and they come in varying sizes in a box. I just chose the smallest of the lot. Btw, as an aside, have you ever gotten a double yolk egg? It isn't common in the industrial eggs but I hear quite an occurrence when you procure from a normal farm.

So, well, that's really it to it. I used more soakage liquid and then let is settle in overnight and then baked it to a light crumb. This one was actually light but not light enough. A good enough back up. But, I intend to keep testing more. It has become an obsession I think. oh well!

I served with delicious fresh cream and a berry coulis made from frozen mix of berries and unsweetened with any added sugars.

Meanwhile, I leave you with this recipe and a few links of interesting reads.

This

is what I have been yelling about all along! :)

Another pudding recipe

, just because!

Cannot to lay my hands on tomatoes like

these

!

This bay leaf cake

is my list to make, after I made my

first pound cake

.

Somewhat cool and

sexy

;-)

Another

coffee shop

opening in Grand Central. I hope they plan for proper baristas. The last one is an epic fail!

A new found

magazine

I am loving.

I really, really, want to go

here

. Soon.

She

is my spiritual guide, of sorts!

I find it hard to believe that we have grown to be

so glued to phones

. Oh well!

Carrot Bread Pudding

{serves 4}

6 slices of

this carrot bread

1 egg

1/4 cup brandied raisins, drained

1 cup whole milk or almond milk

1 tsp grated nutmeg

1 T raw sugar

1/2 tsp salt

To serve,

Whipped cream

Berry Coulis

1 cup thawed frozen berries

1/2 cup water

To make the coulis, bring the berries and water to a boil. Then simmer for 5 or so minutes until the sauce has thickened a little.

Arrange the slices of bread tightly in a baking dish. Warm the milk to melt the sugar. Whisk in the egg and nutmeg quickly. Fold in the raisins.

Pour the milk mixture over the cake slices. Gently press down so the crust get to soak in the liquid as well.

Refrigerate at least four hours or overnight. At this point, nearly all of the liquid should have been soaked through. If it looks a little dry, pour some milk over to moisten.

Prep the oven to 400F.

Bake the pudding for 20 minutes until the liquid is just set.

Cool for a few minutes and serve with berry coulis and cream.

As Black as Brown can be

Have you seen black chocolate? Even the darkest of chocolates is a deep, very deep brown, the color of my eyes. Yet, when you bake it, it can come close to a blackness unsuspected. And, that is the deep richness that I can fall in love with again and again.

But, even more than that, I have an amorous desire for brownies. My knees go weak at the sight of them. It is pure lust, unadulterated. I love the melty, fudginess of it and the sheer decadence and naughtiness they represent.

Whenever, I make brownies, I tweak things to enhance just those qualities, without adding more butter or fat. I have found that using nut flours intensifies the density and hence the allure of the brownie. Recently, I have been cohorting with them a little more than usual with the excuse of concocting recipes to use the almond pulp that I get as a consequence of making almond milk. One of the best ways, I have found is using it in granola. I will put up a recipe for that later. Another is making these brownies!

You may wonder what the hoopla is about. Not only are these intensely rich, chocolately and fudge like, they are also insanely moist and stay that way for at least 3 days. I don't know if they stay longer because they don't last longer here. Typical brownies start becoming crusty and stale losing that soft dense center as early as the second day. That makes it a bit hard to make in bulk. These on the other hand, you can make in bulk and freeze for later, whenever the urge strikes!

The secret to the moistness is almond pulp.

Unlike the flour, the pulp has an inherent moistness because I don't dry it out after squeezing out the milk. Baking the batter does not dry out the pulp sufficiently while the pulp itself is not too wet to make the brownie soggy. It simply lends more denseness to it. Finally, streaking through the batter with peanut butter and walnuts, I think I make a good case for 'healthy' fats!

Btw, a note here; Almonds are my favorite nuts. So, you can see why I am so excited about this recipe!

That's it. The unpretentiously awesome brownie that is blacker than the deepest brown from the double chocolate dose and stickier than night from the almond pulp!

Gluten Free Double Chocolate Brownies

1-1/4 cup almond pulp, liquid squeezed out as much as possible

1/2 cup raw sugar

1/4 cup peanut butter

6 T butter

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup chopped dark chocolate, such as Valhorna

1 egg

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

handful of walnuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350F.

Over a double boiler, melt the butter, sugar, cocoa powder and chocolate to a smooth liquid mixture. Remove from heat and quickly whisk in the egg to make a pudding. You have to be quick with the whisking to avoid scrambling the egg.

To this pudding, add the almond paste, salt, baking soda and half the peanut butter. Whisk to mix. Add half the walnuts and fold into mixture. Batter will be quite wet.

Pour batter into a prepared pan and bang on counter to release any air bubbles.

Streak the remaining peanut butter through the batter, sprinkle the remaining nuts on top and press down gently.

Bake for 30 minutes, until crusty on top and yet soft and springy to touch.

Cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing. This is important. Unlike dry flour, the wetness of the pulp needs a bit more resting time to hold shape.

Don't rush it. Patience is rewarded.

A Break in Time

This was not the cake I wanted. But it happened. I am glad in retrospect.

These days, I find time giving me the slip all too often. While I sit glued to my work, tweaking here and tuning there, the sun rose high to midday, and, seemingly dipped behind the horizon, without my noticing any of it. I turn around and I am surprised to see the moon is hanging full and radiant where I fully expected the sun to be; The lightness of day given away entirely to the sticky inkiness of night.

Suddenly, I realize I forgot to breathe all day. In a striking moment of clarity, it dawns on me that I have not been particularly been productive for the last few hours, yet, have been mulishly pushing myself. It all seems laughable. Except I am not. I am annoyed. For the unconscious passage of time. For the lapsed focus. For the absence of awareness of my slipping efficiency. For the stubbornness that is me. For the annoyance I feel right now, this instant! ;-)

I am fuming. I push back my chair in disgust, not resolution. I pace. I take a sip of water. I stare. And, staring back at me, is the inviting oasis of my open-spaced kitchen. The moment of tension breaks. Only to be replaced by the urgency of wanting to make something. Feverishly, I scout the web, standing. I want to get to the kitchen instantly. Sitting may just threaten that.

I find

this recipe

. Chocolate. Yes. Endorphins. Needed. Yes, yes! The blood pounds to my brain. I run to the pantry. No chocolate. I deflate. Even as I slowly close the pantry drawer in disappointment, I realize I need to breathe, slowly.

I take a tentative step. I steady my mind and tell it to be patient. Slow down. Take time. Stay in the space of the moment.

I reach for my cookbook bibles. Julia Child. In the absence of chocolate, I want butter; lots of it. It helps that I have freshly churned butter sitting in my fridge. Standing by my kitchen counter, I flip through the pages, surprisingly, in leisure. My mind seems assuaged by the thought that some thing will get baked. And, it will be sweet, very likely, very good.

I find a recipe for a pound cake. As many cakes and other sweet stuff as I have baked, the pound cake never quite made that list. Until now. The abject simplicity of the recipe spoke to me. If you are looking for a completely unprocessed recipe, this is it. In its humbleness, lies its strength. 4 ingredients. All of the same weight. Folded together. Gently, respectfully. Baked slowly.

Sliced in warmth. Melted into hot tea. Savored deeply. Recaptured time. A pace behind and happy for it.

The subtle floral citrus notes from the orange makes this cake. Its aroma perfumes the room and rounds off the palate. The cake was divine on its own, the richness of the ingredients coming through solidly. Pound cakes have longer shelf life; the amount of butter, ensures its moistness for longer. But, if you ever tire of eating slices of it as is or toasted, it can be easily reincarnated into another dessert, like a trifle.

Orange Pound Cake

{remembering the 4 main ingredients and that they must be of equal weight is all you need to know for this recipe. The rest is simply working them together.}

1/4 lb flour

1/4 lb butter, room temperature

1/4 lb eggs

1/4 lb raw sugar, finely ground

zest of one orange

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Whip the eggs and sugar until really airy and fluffy.

Rub the zest into the flour, using the tips of your fingers.

Pulse the flour into the egg mixture in three parts.

Add the butter in two parts and pulse for 15 seconds each time until the batter is just mixed. Do not over mix, the cake will come out too dense.

Pour the batter into a 5 inch loaf pan and strongly pat down on to the counter to let any air bubbled escape. I didn't do this well enough as you can see in the holes in my crumb.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until the cake is springy to touch, golden on top and the house is filled with the aroma of the orange.

Transfer onto to rack, cool for a few minutes.

The beauty of this cake is you can slice into it warm!