The Intersection of Two Grandmothers

I had two wonderful grandmothers, both of whom provided me with very different outlooks on life. They were like night and day in most respects but they shared one thing other than their love for me: they gave freely of themselves, providing both life skills and memories that I cherish and carry deep inside. Today, I was reminded of this as I plated a simple jam tart on a fancy Fitz & Floyd dessert dish.

Both women had suffered through the Great Depression, my Granny on a farm in rural Nebraska, my Nana in the middle of urban San Francisco. Both ended up living in the same California suburb.

Granny (of rural Nebraska) had married 3 times, was independent, loved fancy antique furnishings, nice jewelry, and beautiful silk blouses and wool suits (which took up the whole of a 2nd bedroom). She ran her own tax business, frequented the horse races, and regularly threw little soirees for her gal pals. In the kitchen she was a whiz with a pressure cooker, made her own noodles, and was best known for her crab potato salad.

Nana was married to the same man for 52 years (and when my Papa died it was the first time she had ever lived on her own), always thought of others before herself, and lived a spartan existence, primarily in a small 35-foot trailer that she kept immaculately clean inside and out. Her clothes did not fill one whole closet, she worked odd jobs in between raising first her own two children and then helping with my brother and me. She cooked simply, dishes like pot roast, liver and onions, poached fish.

When each had to move out of their home, it took me less than one day to clear out my Nana’s small one-bedroom apartment, even though she had lived there for 20 years. It took me the better part of 6 months to clear my Granny’s two bedroom house (along with several other relatives), where she had lived for 35 years. I had long suspected my Granny was a hoarder, a common result of living through the Depression, but I had no idea the extent. A painful experience.

Both of my grandmothers had a hand in shaping my culinary talents, for which I am immensely grateful. They also had a significant hand in my development into an adult. My degree in social work, my constant need to “mother,” to help, to provide love and guidance comes straight from my Nana, probably the most selfless person I have ever known or ever will know. My love of shoes and good clothes is courtesy of my Granny, along with my penchant for antiques and the joy of serving food on beautiful china. Which brings me full circle….

Today I was making fruit tarts for Sunday dinner. I had extra pie dough left and immediately rolled it out and stamped out big scalloped circles, filled them with a dollop of my homemade plum jam and made little jam tarts, just like my nana would do for me when I was a child. After they had baked, I pulled out a china dish to serve them upon and realized that both my grandmothers were represented there, right in front of me, evoking a smile, a tear and a flood of memories. A simple tart served on a fancy plate, my Nana and Granny side by side.

Calendar Notation: Pickling Time!

When I flipped over my large 12x18 monthly calendar to July I saw a notation in the upper left corner that said “Pickle Time.” I must have marked the calendar when I transferred all the birthdays and anniversaries from last year’s calendar. Pretty smart idea, if I do say so myself.

Last July Brilliant Daughter and I went on a canning frenzy last July after trips to LJB Farms in San Martin. In addition to jams, salsa and barbecue sauce, we put up 24 quarts of pickles. We have been generous with our crunchy dill spears and consequently Mrs. B’s cupboard is just about bare of pickles, hence a need to haul out the canning equipment.

We made a quick trip down to LJB Farms on July 3rd and picked up a lug of the full-flavored Blenheims—since they have such a short season—and I made about 20 half-pints of jam on the 4th of July. I didn’t have time to go to the farm the following weekend, so I made a trip down to our local farmer’s market and bought 10 pounds of pickling cucumbers and some fresh dill, an investment of $12. I went across the street to Safeway and picked up a gallon of white vinegar and made my way home to begin pickling.

Pickling is a very simple process and really takes very little time. While I put the canning kettle on to boil, I washed out my jars and put them in a 250-degree oven to bring them up to temperature.

I washed and quartered all the cucumbers into spears and put them in an ice bath to stay cold and crispy.

Then I set got the pickling liquid on to boil*.

While I waited, I trimmed and cut the dill, peeled garlic (I do love my pickles with garlic), and found the peppercorns. (I even added some chili pepper flakes to a few jars to add some kick.)

Once the canning pot was ready I pulled out 6 jars, added my dill, 3 garlic cloves, 5 peppercorns and then stuffed the spears in tight. I filled them up with the vinegar mixture, sealed them and put them into the bath for 20 minutes. I repeated the process and second time and after 1 ½ hours—start to finish—I had 12 quarts of pickles ready for the pantry. (Not near enough to last the year, unless I decide not to share.)

Now comes the waiting…..

*Ratio of pickling liquid is 3 cups vinegar, 3 cups of water, 1/3 cup salt. For 12 quarts of pickles I used 4x this recipe.

Bake Sale: Vietnamese Coffee Cupcakes

Brilliant Daughter was participating in a bake sale at her place of employment to raise funds for local schools. I thought it would be a good idea to contribute, being as I work as a contractor…at home…with no co-workers to feed. Since I had been hankering to make some cupcakes, I dug around for something a little unique. I finally settled on Vietnamese Coffee Cupcakes, cobbling together recipes from various sites to come up with something that would work for me and utilize ingredients I had on hand.

The cupcakes turned out rather well, light and tasty, reminiscent of a sweetly fragrant Vietnamese coffee. They are a bit of work, as they are made from scratch and have a filling, but I think they were worth it.

Cupcake Batter

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup strong brewed coffee (preferably espresso)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon finely ground coffee (espresso grind works best)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare 24 cupcake pans.

Beat butter on high until soft, about 30 seconds. Add sugar and beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beat for 30 seconds between each.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Put coffee and cream into a measuring cup together.

Add a quarter of the flour to the butter/sugar mixture and beat to combine. Then add one-third cup of liquid mixture beat until combined. Repeat the process two more times and end with last addition of the flour mixture. Fold in ground coffee.

Fill cupcake liners two-thirds full and bake 25 minutes. Let cool completely

Make filling (below).

Filling:

1 teaspoon unflavored (Knox) gelatin

1/4 cup cold water
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk

Sprinkle the gelatin over the water and let sit for 5 minutes. In a small pan over medium heat, heat the sweetened condensed milk until warm. Prepare ice bath by putting ice cubes and water into a bowl that will accommodate the pan. Add the gelatin to the heated milk and stir over heat until the gelatin melts, about 2 minutes. Transfer mixture to water bath set. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens. Once mixture has cooled put into pastry bag with medium round tip. (Alternately a Ziploc bag with corner cut or even baby spoon will work to fill cupcakes.)

Using a large pastry tip, core out the center of each cupcake. Carefully pull out any crumbs and remove the cake round from the tip using a toothpick. Fill each whole three-quarters full with filling and replace cake round on top.

Frosting:

1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
¾ cup heavy cream

¼ cup very strong coffee (preferably espresso)

3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
1 ½ pounds confectioners sugar

Beat the cream cheese in a bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the heavy cream, coffee, and sweetened condensed milk. Slowly mix in the confectioners’ sugar. If you like a thicker frosting that will stand up to fancy piping tips, you might want to add more sugar.

Finish each cupcake with a heap of frosting (piped or spread), dust with a bit of finely ground coffee and a chocolate espresso bean.

P.S. The bake sale raised over $300 for local schools. My cupcakes sold out. : )

My New Favorite Breakfast Treat: Jam Crumb Cake

I’m a recipe clipper. I subscribe to a number of food-related magazines, as well as my local newspaper (yes, I know that is soooo old school) and I regularly cut out recipes I’d like to try. Originally filed separately by category (breakfast, soup/salad, veg/side dish, main, dessert and misc), each file folder had become so fat that I needed to take action. I spent one cold, rainy May afternoon sorting recipes into additional categories, and for the really big files (breakfast, main and dessert) I split them into Tested and Untested. It so made me want to get in my brand new kitchen and cook, and so I did.

I woke up this morning and decided to make something new for breakfast. Butcher Son had pulled an all-nighter the day before, finishing a particularly difficult art project for college. He had slept for almost 12 hours and I wanted to surprise him with a treat. I found a recipe clipped from Gourmet back in December of 2007. No sure what I was waiting for, and after all was said and done I wish I had tried the recipe earlier.

The recipe took 5 minutes to make and another 25 minutes to cook and utilizes staples from the pantry and refrigerator. Couldn’t have been much easier unless I opened a box of muffin mix. While the original recipe called for raspberry jam, I had some lovely Blenheim apricot jam that Brilliant Daughter and I canned last summer. It smells so heavenly every time I open it (and it is just amazing stirred into plain Greek yogurt).

The recipe would lend itself to using any kind of thick jam or preserves and you could add a pop of flavor by stirring in a few drops of almond extract or a tablespoon of liqueur like Grand Marnier, Framboise, or Amaretto.

For cake

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup milk

1 large egg

1/2 cup raspberry jam or preserves

For crumb topping

3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in the middle. Generously butter a 9-inch square or round cake pan.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Whisk together butter, milk, and egg in a large bowl, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined. Pour batter into cake pan. Dollop jam all over surface, then swirl into batter with spoon.

Make crumb topping:
Whisk together butter, sugars, cinnamon, and salt until smooth. Stir in flour, then blend with your fingertips until incorporated. Sprinkle crumbs in large clumps over top of cake.

Bake cake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean and sides begin to pull away from pan, about 25 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes. Serve.

Yield: 6 servings

The Best Use of Lemons…EVER

You may think I’m exaggerating, but I am not and I do not come to this decision lightly. I have the full backing of my lemon-loving family.

As is tradition in our household, the children get to choose to go out on their birthday or stay home and have me cook whatever they want. We’ve had some odd choices over the years, like Butcher Son once asked if we could go to Dennys for his birthday, so he could have one of their Grand Slam breakfasts, and Electrician Son wanted Shake and Bake pork chops, which I had never made in my life. Those are the exceptions, rather than the rule, because let’s face it, these are my children and they know good food.

This year for Brilliant Daughter’s birthday, given the nice weather, she wanted Cowboy Burgers. You might remember this recipe from last summer. My family was so wowed they hardly spoke the whole time they were eating, hence the post tile of “Seriously Good Eating.” They really are that good. In fact, it is one of the 100 recipes featured in my cookbook, Eat Drink Merry. She also wanted a lemon dessert made with our Meyer lemons. That meant digging into the archives, the recipe clippings, the downloaded notes, to find just the right thing. And I found a gem. A home run. A grand slam. (Well, it is baseball season after all….) I found a recipe for the. best. lemon. dessert. ever. It was in my clipping file, cut from an April 2005 Bon Appetit magazine.

Simply called Lemon Curd Mousse Cake, it was a creation of light and air, summertime and sunshine, and put a smile on everyone’s face…immediately. We all knew right away that this was a keeper. Fans of lemon meringue pie will especially be wowed with this cake, as it tastes like the culinary love child of the light creamy meringue and the tart lemony custard. It’s refreshing, silky, and above all – heavenly. (I just wish that I could capture that heaven in a picture for you, as the one here just doesn’t do it justice.)

While this cake does take some extra effort and dishwashing, it is one that is well worth the effort – and I don’t say that lightly!

Warning: This recipe really does require lots of pots, pans, bowls, spatulas, and spoons. Set your sink up with warm sudsy water and just drop the used items in as you go along. It will make clean-up much easier.

Lemon Curd Mousse Cake

Adapted from Bon Appetit, April 2005

Crust

2 cups Lorna Doone cookie crumbs

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Mousse

2 1/2 cups lemon curd (my recipe here)

5 tablespoons water

4 teaspoons unflavored gelatin

6 large egg whites

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups chilled heavy whipping cream

Lemon slices, cut into quarters (garnish)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom of 8-inch-diameter springform pan with nonstick spray.

Blend cookie crumbs and butter in small bowl. Press onto bottom of pan. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Cool.

Pour 5 tablespoons water into small saucepan. Sprinkle gelatin evenly over. Let stand until gelatin softens, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, place 1 3/4 cups lemon curd in large bowl.

Stir 3/4 cup curd in another small saucepan over medium-low heat until very warm. Then

stir gelatin mixture over medium-low heat until dissolved and liquid is clear (do not boil). Whisk warm gelatin mixture into 3/4 cup warm curd. Gradually whisk gelatin-curd mixture into curd in large bowl.

Using electric mixer, beat egg whites in medium bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, beating until whites are thick and glossy. Fold whites into curd mixture in 3 additions.

Using same beaters, beat cream in another medium bowl until peaks form. Fold into egg white-curd mixture in 3 additions.

Pour enough mousse over cooled crust to fill pan completely. Pour remaining mousse into small bowl and reserve. Cover and chill mousse cake, reserved mousse, and remaining curd overnight.

Using a long thin knife, cut around cake to loosen. Remove pan sides. Gently spread 3/4 cup of remaining curd over cake. Transfer reserved mousse to pastry bag fitted with small star tip. Pipe rosettes of mousse around top edge of cake. Chill cake until ready to serve. (Can be made up to 8 hours ahead.)

Arrange lemon slices between rosettes. Cut cake into wedges.

Cinco de Mayo Dessert: Dulce de Leche Cupcakes

We had a very festive party over the weekend to celebrate our new kitchen. Given the proximity to Cinco de Mayo, the party had a decidedly Latin flair. I made two kinds of mini-empanadas; one with some fresh chorizo Butcher Son had made for me, and a vegetarian option with black beans, avocado, cheese, green onion and salsa. We also had a very fresh ceviche, again courtesy of Butcher Son who had ordered a fresh halibut and filleted it out for me. I also made two batches of spicy almonds, mini corn cakes, and grilled some japaleno chicken sausage. Brilliant Daughter made a double batch of her roasted tomato salsa, as well as a tub of fresh guacamole.

On the drink menu was homemade sangria, right out of my cookbook, as well as Corona beer and margarita jello shots. To top the night off, I did skewers of fresh fruit (seedless watermelon, pineapple, strawberry and grape) and some tasty dulce de leche cupcakes. I used a batter that was featured on JustJENN Recipes, but used a dulce de leche buttercream with a button of dulce de leche on top.

The cupcake batter is made from scratch but is not terribly time consuming and you should have everything on hand. The trick seems to be the addition of brown sugar to the batter, which is not something you would normally see. It adds an extra dimension and makes for a heartier cupcake. In less than 10 minutes I had made a double batch of the batter and was scooping out 60 mini cupcakes, with enough left over for 8 regular-sized cupcakes.

After they cooled sufficiently, I made the dulce de leche buttercream. Dulce de leche has been cropping up more and more the last few years as a flavor component, primarily in ice cream and cakes. It is a milk-based product that has a wonderfully sweet caramel flavor. Due to the number of party menu items, I took the shortcut and used canned dulce de leche.

Nestle makes a good La Lechera Dulce de Leche, which can be found at Safeway or at Latino markets. If you cannot find it, you can take a can of sweetened condensed milk and either bake it in the oven or cook it in the crockpot. Barring that you can make it from scratch.

The buttercream icing was smooth with a dense caramel flavor, perfect for the cupcakes. Using a pastry bag, I piped rosettes on the top of each little cupcake and then Brilliant Daughter used a piping tip to make little buttons of pure dulce de leche on top. They were adorable and good and pretty much gone by the end of the night. Which is good for our guests, but not so good for us because we wanted to gorge on them the next day. Guess I’ll just have to make some more….

Cupcake Batter
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and prepare your pans (12 regular sized or 40+ minis).

In small bowl, mix your flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the sugars and butter. Add the eggs and vanilla until combined. Alternate the flour mixture with the milk until you get a smooth batter. Spoon batter into the muffin pans, filling no more than 2/3 full.

Bake for 18-20 minutes (full size) or 10-12 minutes (minis), or until a tester comes out clean.

Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt
3/4 cup dulce de leche

Cream together softened butter and powdered sugar on low using an electric mixer. Add cream, salt, and vanilla and beat on medium speed until smooth and no lumps appear. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the prepared dulce de leche and beat to incorporate.

Frost cooled cupcakes using a knife or a pastry bag. Decorate with drizzled dulce de leche.