mix, mix…stir, stir

It’s a Tuesdays with Dorie triple treat. The last three recipes all rolled into one delicious post. First up is Tart Noire. It’s as sexy and decadent as it sounds.

This tart is understated, elegant, and proof that very simple components, when done right, can be sensational. Like any dish, the simpler it is the more imperative quality ingredients become. This dessert is worth splurging on exquisite dark chocolate.    

One of the best ways to elevate a lovely chocolate ganache is to pair it with a rich buttery crust. The contrast between the smooth creaminess of the chocolate ganache and perfectly crispy tart shell adds as much to the pleasure of eating this as the flavor does.

Some time ago I had a hot lava-type chocolate cake with caraway at Jerry Traunfeld’s restaurant Poppy. His pastry Chef, Dana Cree, is known for creating fantastic and unusual flavor combinations with her desserts and I ordered this one out of pure curiosity. It was so fantastic the flavor combination has been on my mind ever since.  This seemed like a perfect opportunity to play with it, so I added ½ teaspoon of whole caraway seeds to the crust. It turned out to be a little too subtle, but the chocolate caraway combination was as good as I remember.  I liked the effect of the whole seeds releasing their flavor only when bitten into, but I think some ground caraway would make the presence of the spice more noticeable. One of the notable features of Chef Cree’s creation was that it wasn’t overly sweet, so I used a fairly dark chocolate for my tart.

Ganache and tart shells aren’t difficult to make. If you’d like to see it done before attempting it, take advantage of our 14 day trial offer  to Rouxbe. Here are two great recipes on Rouxbe that have a video demonstration of how to make ganache and how to make a tart shell; Chocolate Ganache Cake, Fresh Berry Tart.   A link to Dorie Greenspan’s Tart Noire recipe is at the end of this post. Her tart shell recipe uses a food processor which makes it a snap to make, and the Rouxbe demo shows the technique for a hand-mixed crust. Here is a video overview of the Chocolate Ganache Cake recipe to tempt you with delicious. At the end of the video you can click through for the free trail offer to be able to see the entire demo which includes how to make ganache.

Dorie Greenspan includes 14 different brownie recipes in Baking: From My Home To Yours, and I must admit this wasn’t one of my favorites. The distinguishing element is a mix in of York Peppermint Patties. When it comes to drug-store candy, I actually like York Peppermint Patties, but they made the brownies too sweet. The texture of the brownies was also an issue, heavy and a bit greasy, but it improved after sitting for a day. Now don’t let my lack of love for this recipe mislead you, we ate every last one of them. Of the brownies we have made so far, my favorite has been the Tribute-to Katherine-Hepburn Brownies. By my count we still have seven more brownie recipes to bake.

The Lots-of-Ways-Banana Cake rounds out this triple-treat post. The most exciting thing for me about this recipe is I emptied 3 containers of frozen things in making it, bananas, coconut milk, and coconut buttercream. I freeze leftover bits of whatever is left over and always get a thrill when I manage to use up the odds and ends, but truth be told I’m most happy about freeing up the freezer container so I can fill it with something else.

Brown sugar and nutmeg really add a nice flavor to this cake. Dorie provides a list of options to take this cake in a variety of directions. I went with two layers frosted with creamcheese coconut buttercream because I had the perfect amount of it on hand in the freezer. Though I really liked the flavor, the texture was a bit heavy for a layer cake. I think it would have been better baked as a loaf cake and frosted. It seems silly that the shape would make a difference, but it comes down to expectations. I expect a layer cake to be light and delicate and expect a loaf cake to be dense and hearty, the kind of cake you could eat out of hand with a nice cup of coffee.

Thank you to my fellow Tuesday with Dorie bakers who selected the recipes: Dharmagirl of Bliss: towards a delicious life picked Tart Noire, Karen of  Welcome to Our Crazy Blessed Life selected the Brrrr-ownies, and Kimberly of Only Creative Opportunities chose Lots of Ways Banana Cake.

Recipe links

• Tart Noire
• Brrrr-ownies
• Lots of Ways Banana Cake

Over 350 baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours . 135 recipes completed 86 to go!

What an exciting weekend… I competed in a live cooking competition! My recipe submission of Grilled Ribeye with Dried Cherry and Fresh Sage Relish landed me a spot in the semi-finals of the Beringer Vineyard’s Great Steak Challenge.

The competition took place at The Bite of Seattle food festival which happens to be local for me, so I had the benefit of a very supportive cheering squad of friends – even sporting Team Carol T-shirts!

We had 30 minutes to complete our recipe and present it to the judges, two of whom were none other than the Deen brothers. Only one person in our group had ever done a cooking challenge before, so I felt a little better knowing that most of us were novices at this.

Beringer had the event perfectly organized and went out of their way to make sure we had everything we needed. Most importantly they wanted us to have a great time. Rather than having all ten of us go at it simultaneously, we were broken into two heats of five.  Happily, I was in the first wave. They had us grilling to classic rock hits, an MC giving minute-by-minute updates while roaming around chatting with us when we weren’t looking frazzled or needing to be intensly focused. There was even a camera and video crew capturing all the excitement. Because it was so much fun I was able to stay fairly relaxed with the exception of having my plating come down to the wire with the time limit.

Every competitor was supplied with all the tools and ingredients necessary for our recipes, but we were permitted to bring any favorite tools, and of course I had my SpiceCare containers at hand to make seasoning a snap. We each had a personal work station and dedicated grill, and shared ingredients were placed on a community table for all to use.  As I was measuring my wine I thought about taking a big swig from the bottle, but given that it was on the community table and someone else was going to be using it I exercised good manners and didn’t. Once my entry was finished I was able to relax and enjoy watching the second group cook.

Seattle was the third of ten regional competitions. One lucky winner from each region gets to compete in the finals, which will be held in Napa, CA in early October. What will they be battling it out for? Fame and fortune. The final grilling showdown will be filmed and aired on The Cooking Channel and the grand prize is a big fat check for $15,000!

I was very happy with my finished dish. I didn’t forget to add any ingredients and completed it with a generous 30 seconds to spare! Whew. The fact that I did my best and had a great time took the sting off not winning. Oh, how I would have loved to have landed a spot in the finals, but I was out grilled by some stiff, but very friendly, competition. Dustin Harrison was the star of the day and will be proudly representing the Northwest region in Napa. I hope he walks away with the big win.

This is the first Great Steak Challenge, and hopefully it will become an annual event. If so, I encourage you to enter next year becuase it was such a blast! Seven more live semi-final events will be happening over the next few months in various cities. Check out the list of locations, if one is in your town you should go cheer for the competitors. You can also taste some wine and meet the Deen brothers.

If you are feeling hestitant about your steak grilling skills, take advantage of a free 14 day membership to Rouxbe Online Cooking School to perfect your technique. They have a fantastic module on cooking meat. Click on the link below to visit Rouxbe and here to read why TableFare has this offer for you.

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14-day membership to Rouxbe!

When I treat myself to a nice cup of coffee at a coffee shop I generally like a little baked treat to go along with my beverage and I usually go for either a scone or a slice of pound cake.

More often than not I’m underwhelmed by coffeehouse pound cake that I likely paid $1.75 for. Not that it’s bad, it just never seems to be as good as it could be. Much of what distinguishes “great” from “okay” is texture. A really good pound cake is tender but with a course dense texture. The right balance of these elements creates a unique toothsome chew that sets great pound cake apart.  

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cake, is great pound cake. It has the seemingly impossible combination of a course, yet tender texture and a rich buttery sweet flavor. You might be thinking that drenching it in rum give this cake an unfair advantage, well, I only drenched mine with citrus simple syrup and it definitely qualified as a great pound cake in my book.

As far as cake goes, it’s an easy one to make requiring nothing more than simple hand mixing. Bonus points are added for utilizing melted butter which eliminates the need to think ahead to bring the butter to room temperature. Unlike a traditional pound cake, which is simply a pound of butter, sugar, flour and eggs; this version takes advantage of the leavening power of baking powder for lift. One note, mine cooked much quicker than the suggested 55-60 minutes, so keep an eye on it.

Last week I discovered that a little jam and frosting can transform a simple pound cake into an impressive layer cake. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to apply that concept again this week. I filled the layers with freshly made strawberry ginger jam (recipe posted soon) and frosted it with coconut buttercream I had stashed in the freezer. Transforming a pound cake into a layer cake is my favorite baking discovery of this entire Tuesdays with Dorie odyssey. It has endless applications and is hands-down the quickest and easiest way to create a beautiful layer cake.

Thanks to Wendy of Pink Stripes for the delicious pick this week. If you need a dessert to take to a 4^th of July celebration this weekend, this would be a great choice. You can even make it a day ahead because it really is better the next day.

Happy 4^th of July!

Recipe Link

• Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cake

Over 350 baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours . 131 recipes completed 89 to go!

Sometimes it’s a unique combination of flavors or a surprisingly lovely texture that surprises and thrills me about a new recipe. With this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake, it was the construction.

This is essentially a sour cream chocolate pound cake, a really good sour cream chocolate pound cake mind you, that has been sliced into three layers, filled with jam, and frosted. Brilliant! As soon as I realized what was going on with this recipe my mind started cataloging all sorts of ways I can put this concept to good use, and I wondered why I had never thought to treat a pound cake like a layer cake before.

If you aren’t up for making and frosting a layer cake, this is the cake for you. The batter is easy to mix up and it bakes in a single loaf pan. Layering the cake with jam eliminates the need to make a filling and is so quick and easy to spread. The jam melds with the cake layers adding a bright flavor accent and moist texture that makes you want another bite.  A simple ganache frosting made by stirring sour cream into melted chocolate is all that’s necessary to finish it off.

Chocolate with cardamom is one of my favorite flavor combinations. Cardamom has the unique ability to be simultaneously strong and coy; it swirls around the taste of the chocolate and comes through in a subtle I’m here but I’m not here sort of way. I added ½ teaspoon of cardamom to my version and matched it with apricot jam.

Treating a simple pound cake like a layer cake opens up a whole new set of dessert options. The speed and ease of turning to a lovely jam as a filling makes this concept all the more appealing. I love the delicious understatement of pound cake but if I’m serving it for dessert will always dress it up with something. Fresh berries are my standard garnish, though I have recently become quite enamored with this Guinness Reduction.  Now, I’m just as likely to layer it with a special jam and frost it.

Thank you to Amy, of Amy Ruth Bakes, for expanding my idea of what pound cake can be. She has posted the recipe on her blog if you would like to try this particularly tasty version, but of course you can layer up and frost your favorite pound cake in any way that inspires you.

Recipe Link

• Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake
• Guinness Reduction

Over 350 baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours . 130 recipes completed 90 to go!

 It’s been a cold wet June in Seattle. The other morning I couldn’t seem to chase the chill out of my bones and wanted something warm for lunch. The fresh flavor and vibrant green color of this spinach soup delivered a little taste of spring and warmed me right up.

This soup was only partly inspired by my chilled bones the other factor was the abundance of spinach growing in my garden. My little garden was producing faster than we could consume. 

This being a spur of the moment endeavor, the ingredient list comes from what I had on hand at the time.  In an effort to keep my spinach plants in check, I have made this a few times now and settled in on a recipe I consider a keeper. The mild and sweet flavor of the spinach is accented with a lovely bite of heat from fresh ginger and black pepper, and then rounded out with a touch of cream and comforting aroma of nutmeg. Besides tasting great my favorite thing about this soup is it can be made in about 20 minutes and costs next to nothing, especially if you happen to grow the spinach.

As much as I enjoy cooking and consider it to be a relaxing part of my day, I still like to be speedy and efficient about it. Nothing has improved my speed and efficiency more than developing my knife skills. This practice exercise using a bench scraper from Rouxbe Online Cooking School, made such a difference for me.

Cutting up an onion is the most difficult part of making this soup. If you get the hang of using the rolling technique demonstrated above, you’ll be able to knock this soup out in nothing flat.

The herbs are a flexible element. I added a handful of chervil in one batch because it too was getting a little out of control in the garden. I have also used a mix of chervil, parsley and fennel with excellent results. A mix of any mild herbs you might happen to have on hand will work just fine. Next time I’ll try using cilantro.

Spontaneous Spinach Soup served steaming hot with a grilled cheese sandwich is a lunch that will make you happy even if it’s rainy and cold in June. If you happen to be enjoying sunny warm weather, serve it chilled; it would make a nice starter for your next dinner party.

Update: I made this again using cliantro and it was wonderful.

Recipe Link

• Spontaneous Spinach Soup

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