The Taste of Summer: Simple Strawberry Cake

When it comes to food there are few things I like more than strawberries. During my college years I worked for Carriage House, a cannery in San Jose that my godmother’s family owned. Their bread and butter, so to speak, was jams, jellies, peanut butter and pie fillings. I loved working on the days they were running strawberry jam; the scent heavy in the air made my workday all that more pleasant.

Because of my love of strawberries, we planted several varieties in our raised beds last year and since early May, they have been producing some really yummy berries. Often when I harvest the garden, they don’t even make into the house; they go no further than my mouth. But I was able to save enough this week to make a very simple strawberry cake, one that has a dense base with halved berries covering the top. Quick to make and served with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream, it is a delicious dessert, sure to please everyone.

This recipe, which originated with Martha Stewart, does not require any special ingredients and reminds me a bit of clafouti, although without sooooooo much butter. Using really ripe berries, they will almost melt into the cake like jam; firmer berries will retain their shape but soften up nicely. And although I have yet to try it, I think this cake would be really good with any type of berry.

Simple Strawberry Cake

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a standard 10-inch pie pan, deep-dish 9-inch pie pan, or 9-inch springform pan. (I used a fancy quiche pan.)

Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 1 cup sugar until pale and fluffy with an electric mixer, about 3 minutes. Mix in egg, milk and vanilla until just combined. Add dry mixture gradually, mixing until just smooth.

Pour into prepared pie plate. Arrange strawberries, cut side down, on top of batter, as closely as possible in a single layer. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.

Bake cake for 10 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 325°F and bake cake until golden brown and a tester comes out free of wet batter, about 50 minutes to 60 minutes. Let cool in pan on a rack.

Serves 8

Pork Belly to Pancetta: Taste in the Making

I’m no stranger to pork belly. Butcher Son regularly brings me home slabs to turn into bacon, which I happily do. I’ve experimented with various rubs: brown sugar, molasses, pepper. I’ve smoked the slabs in a converted Weber and an electric smoker, and used several species of wood chips. But I have never attempted to make anything harder with that pork belly than bacon. Until now….

I decided I wanted to try to make pancetta. I read up on the process in several books I own, and finally chose to follow the directions in Charcuterie, The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn. Then Butcher Son brought me home two 10-pound slabs of pork belly. I cut out the choicest 5-pound piece for the pancetta, and cut the rest to make bacon.

After skinning the slab*, I assembled the ingredients for the curing process. The dry cure used for pancetta is different than that which I use for bacon. The recipe called for pink salt. Initially I thought this meant pink Himalayan salt, but after thinking about it for awhile, I began to wonder why such a specific salt was included, so I did some searching and found that “pink salt” is the trade term for “curing salt” and is actually pink. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find it at any local stores and had to send Mr B off to Williams Sonoma to pick up a jar ($9.50).

Once he returned I mixed the pink salt with garlic, salt, brown sugar, fresh ground black pepper, crushed juniper berries, bay leaves, freshly grated nutmeg and sprigs of fresh thyme from the garden. 

After massaging it in vigorously, I vacuum sealed the slab and placed it in the refrigerator. Every other day I took it out, massaged the belly (called overhauling), and put it back in the fridge. 

After 10 days it was firm and considered cured. At this point it was time to rinse, dry, smear with fresh ground pepper and roll that sucker up for the drying process. Butcher Son asked around and got some good tips on rolling and tying, one of which was that if he didn’t end up with blisters, he was doing it wrong. I thought that was a bit extreme, but shame on me for doubting the experts.

The goal when rolling is for the belly to be as tight as possible with no air in the middle. Rolling the belly isn’t the hard part, it’s the tying that requires brute strength. You start in the middle and work your way out, so that there is little to no air between the interior rolls. After the 4^th tie, Butcher Son found himself with missing skin off both his pinkies from tying so tightly. Apparently he just skipped the blister stage.

Once the pancetta is rolled and tied it needs to go into a cool humid place. The book suggests between 50 and 60 degrees and 60 percent humidity. We happen to have an old wine refrigerator that works fine, but is noisy as all get-out. We had to remove it from the dining area due to the issue and it now resides in a corner of the garage. So we plugged it in, placed a pan of ice cubes in the bottom and laid the roll on one of the shelves.

Every afternoon (when it was warmest) we dumped the pan of water and added more ice. Every other day we turned it a quarter turn and checked to make sure that the pancetta was not getting too hard and drying out too much. It takes approximately two weeks to dry sufficiently. You may notice small white dots of mold on the end pieces. This is fine, it will be cut off before eating.

What you want is a semi-firm roll. Too hard and you know you’ve gone too long. There is some shrinkage due to the drying process, so the five-pound pork belly you started with will end up being closer to 4 (and a squosh).

I have to tell you it was mighty hard to wait two weeks to taste it. And Butcher Son wanted to wait three! So we compromised. I cut off one dry end and then 1/2 pound to make some pasta carbonara. And we have stowed the pancetta in the wine fridge for one more week. Meanwhile, it looks gorgeous and tasted heavenly in the carbonara dish. (Served with a salad straight out of our garden and fresh artisan bread baked with our own herbs!)

I think I might use a bit more herbs in the initial curing, and definitely use more pepper prior to the rolling process, but as pancetta goes, this is a winner. Can't wait for the next taste test.

*NOTE: Always ask for skinned pork belly – it will make your life sooooo much easier.

Blueberry Breakfast Biscuits

Sorry about that title, I just love alliterations. Couldn’t help myself. Anyway, I have been experimenting with a Blueberry Cream Biscuit recipe that I saw in Better Homes and Gardens. It is a new family favorite, not only for breakfast but topped with some additional berries and whipped cream for dessert, or Mr B’s personal favorite, reheated in a bowl and topped with some half-and-half.

These biscuits are quick to make, don’t require any fancy ingredients, and can be served with lemon curd, blueberry jam, or all on their own. What appealed to me was the basic biscuit dough. I have yet to find a good basic biscuit (buttermilk or otherwise) and am constantly on the search. Unfortunately this is more a cross between a biscuit and a scone, but my disappointment was tempered by their delicious flavor.

I have tried the recipe with different spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger), amounts of sugar, both whipping cream and half-and-half, topped off with sugar or not, and different baking times. I’ve come to the consensus that my small alterations to the original recipe improve upon the taste and it got big thumbs up from everyone in the household.

I happen to like a sweeter dough, so I increased the amount of sugar. This makes them perfectly edible on their own, without the need for the original blueberry sauce the recipe called for, or even butter, jam or curd. By sprinkling white or raw sugar over the top, you also get an extra bit of sweetness and crunch.

I also tried to make the recipe with half-and-half, as I was out of cream on one occasion. But the cream is significantly thicker and richer—a bridge between the traditional milk and butter called for in recipes like these. The half-and-half required an additional ½ cup of flour, which diluted the sweetness. Even with the additional flour, the dough was a bit hard to turn, as it was still a bit sticky. The result was a somewhat tough outer biscuit, not as light and fluffy as the cream-based version.

I also found that the baking time of 17 minutes from the original recipe was just too short. It was closer to 22-25 and my oven is well calibrated. Had I turned on the convection it might have been done in 17, but be warned. Taking the biscuits out too early means raw dough in the center.

These take about 5 minutes to make, and with cooking time can be on your table, piping hot, in less than 30. So what are you waiting for?

Blueberry Breakfast Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

4 tablespoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ginger

1 cup blueberries

¼ cup diced crystallized ginger*

1½ cups whipping cream

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl thoroughly mix flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and ginger. Toss blueberries and crystallized ginger with the flour mixture. Stir whipping cream into the flour mixture until just moistened.
Turn out dough on a floured work surface. Gently lift and fold dough four or five times, making a quarter turn between each fold. Place dough on the cookie sheet forming it into an 8-inch square, approximately 1 inch thick. Using a floured pizza cutter or knife, cut 12 to 16 squares in dough, leaving biscuits intact. 

Bake in upper half of oven for 22-25 minutes. until golden brown. Cut through or pull apart biscuits.

*The Ginger People make baker’s cut crystallized ginger chips, which are perfect for baking recipes (as well as to put in oatmeal, granola, etc). This is what they look like, although they are significantly cheaper (by half) at Cost Plus.

Going Whole Hog

Well, not really WHOLE hog, just the belly of the beast. Yep, last week we cured, rendered, smoked or ate 20 pounds of pork belly. Now before you get on your high horse about how unhealthy that is, let me tell you that it wasn’t all consumed in one sitting. But I have found that when I am doing anything homemade, more is better. Like canning. Why make 5 jars of jam, when 10 jars are just as easy. Same thing with the belly.

It all began because we ran out of our home-cured bacon. Bacon that we not only enjoyed as a breakfast item, and in soups and other savory dishes, but also in bacon fat caramels. (More about that later.) So it was time to rub some belly and get the smoker out. And because we donated homemade bacon (and a box of those delish bacon caramels) to a fundraiser, more was required. We also share the bounty with Brilliant Daughter and Electrician Son.

So, two 10-pound pork bellies made their way to my kitchen. I cut the choicest 5-pound slab for my first foray into pancetta, for which I will dedicate a whole post to next week. Then I cut four slabs for bacon, and had one small slab leftover that I slow-roasted.

I wrote a post about “Makin Bacon” last year, when we first started making our own. We have since graduated from a repurposed Weber to an electric smoker that belonged to my godfather and is probably 15 years old. It takes a bit less tending and has 3 racks, making the smoking process more efficient and the end result is just as good.

As for the slow-roasted pork belly, I can tell you it’s not for everybody. Butcher Son’s girlfriend doesn’t like fat, and there is definitely a good amount on a belly, so we made it on a night when she wasn’t sitting at the dinner table.

The slow roasting, with nothing more than a few herbs and a finishing glaze, completely changes the texture of the fat. It just melts in your mouth. One caution: you cannot eat much of this and a small 1.5 pound slab feeds 6 easily. It also needs to be served with a starch, like rice, couscous, polenta, potato.

While it takes a significant amount of time to roast pork belly, it is so worth it, and requires no tending. You rub it up, stick it in the oven and voila! Topped with a Makers Mark bourbon glaze and you have one delicious serving of heart-clogging proportions.

I found the recipe on the Maker’s Mark site, which encourages cooking with bourbon, obviously. But the glaze added just the right amount of flavor and complemented the pork perfectly. 

So next time you are feeling adventurous, stop by your local butcher (there is a really cute one at Robert’s of Woodside!), and pick up some pork belly for dinner.

Slow Roasted Pork Belly

1/2 cup Maker’s Mark® Bourbon
2 pounds pork belly, skin on
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1 tablespoon fresh sage, minced
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, minced
2 tablespoons garlic, crushed and minced
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons sherry or apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 275°F. Using a sharp knife score the skin of the pork belly in a checkerboard design.

In a bowl combine the salt, pepper, sage, thyme and garlic. Rub the pork belly on both sides with mixture until evenly coated. Place pork belly in a roasting pan skin side up. Place in the oven and bake for 3-1/2 hours, turn oven to broil and cook for 10-12 minutes until the skin puffs up evenly. Remove from oven and let rest for 30-40 minutes at room temperature.

Using a serrated knife, cut the meat into 1/2-inch-thick pieces and reserve.

Place the honey, Maker’s Mark® Bourbon, vinegar, butter, salt and pepper in a large sauté pan. Place over medium high heat and reduce by a third. Place the pieces of crispy pork belly in the pan and increase to high heat. Cook until syrupy and glazes the pork belly. Remove from heat and keep warm.

Plate the meat, drizzling the remaining sauce atop and on the plate.

Strawberry-Lemonade Babycakes

I’m a fanatic when it comes to cupcakes. The reason being that I cannot make a layer cake. Well, I can make the cake, but it never lays flat and the frosting never looks like the magazine or cookbook picture. In fact, they end up looking like a five-year-old made them. So I gave up long ago and switched to cupcakes, which are easier to share with others anyway.

My latest creation is a strawberry-lemonade cupcake, which I made for a baby shower, and appropriately called “Babycakes.” These little mini-cupcakes are bold in flavor, not too sweet, and adorable as all get-out.

The idea was born out of the fact that the impending arrival will be a girl and I wanted pink cupcakes. Not just tinted white cupcakes, but something pink in flavor. And because my new favorite frosting is lemon meringue, I paired the lemon with strawberry for a refreshing spring-like melding of flavors.

I started with a box mix for strawberry cake. Now I know some of you may be purists and make your cake from scratch—and I do, too, sometimes—but cake mixes are quick, easy and have a good consistency for the small cupcakes. I buy the box mixes on sale for under $1, which leaves no guilt when I want to try out mixing in different flavors.  But, I digress…..

I started with the box mix, which required oil, eggs and water. I substituted ½ cup frozen lemonade for ½ cup of the water and added in an additional tablespoon of strawberry extract, as I wanted the flavor to pop and not be overwhelmed by lemon. The mix made 48 mini cupcakes and three 4-inch layers (one for tasting and two to make a daddy-to-be cake—which turned out slightly better than a five-year-old’s attempt).

Once the cupcakes had cooled I piped homemade lemon curd into the centers for a surprise treat. Because I have two lemon trees, I regularly can lemon curd. You can, of course, skip this step or use store-bought.

Then I made the lemon meringue frosting. (Recipe here.)  What I like about the frosting is that it only takes ¾ cup of sugar, is very light, holds up to piping or creative decorating with the back of a spoon, and tastes divine. Much better than a cream cheese-based or buttercream frosting. I even added a little pink gel color to match the cupcakes and piped it on with a star tip.

To top off the little gems, I used miniature rattles, safety pins and pacifiers. If you would prefer, you can buy miniature candy ducks or other edible decoration and avoid the hassle and waste of the plastic versions. But they just looked so darn cute. And, they tasted great.  

And Baby Makes Three: Assembling a Food Hamper for the New Family

I’ve been inspired by the spate of babies due this Spring. Primarily it is the crafty part of me that has been at work, learning new patterns for baby blankets and designing some very cute felt and fleece monsters. While I was clearly on track to finish the latest blanket and have a coterie of homemade stuffed monsters for the two due in May, Mother Nature clearly had other plans. Friday the first of the babies arrived, almost four weeks early, and the blanket intended for the wee one is just not ready yet. In fact, it probably won’t be done until the original due date of May 17^th. But I still found a way to celebrate the blessed event by providing a food hamper for the new parents, friends of Butcher Son.

Upon hearing the news that the mother-to-be was in labor, my mind raced. Knowing I could not knit fast enough to finish the blanket, I went into full-on chef mode. I sketched out meals, and on Saturday went shopping. Starting Saturday night and working all Sunday morning, I was able to cook several meals for the happy little family, and pack them up in a hamper to be delivered. One thing new parents don’t need to worry about is trips to the grocery store or standing in front of a stove. And who wants to eat microwaved food or take-out every meal? There’s nothing like a home-cooked meal, filled with love and goodness to keep up the energy a new baby requires.

The weather here is vacillating between hot and cold, so I made sure the meals could accommodate both. There is banana bread and yogurt parfaits for breakfast, some quinoa salad for lunch, a creamy French lentil soup and Rocky Mountain brisket and pasta salad for dinner. I also baked a batch of triple ginger cookies and boxed up some of my super tasty bacon caramels for a sweet treat. I also threw in a dog chew for the puppy, so he is not left out, as well as a mini-bottle of champagne for mom and a bottle of Jameson for dad (in honor of the new baby’s name). And peeking out amongst it all are three of my new best friends, soft stuffed monster mates.

I utilized canning jars for much of the food, as the quart jars contain enough for two. I labeled everything, not so much to be cute, but more in the interest of allowing them to avoid anything they may be allergic or sensitive to. The food itself is pretty healthy, with grains, vegetables, and fruit predominant. The parfaits are made from Greek yogurt and fresh berries, providing protein, calcium, vitamins and antioxidants. The banana bread provides some B6 and potassium (not to mention tasty mini chocolate chips!).

Quinoa, an ancient grain that is hitting mainstream markets, is high in fiber, has about 15% protein, and 9 essential amino acids. Paired with a healthy serving of avocado, I add in ponzu, sesame oil and a dab of sriracha, making it a tasty main or side dish. The pasta salad, made with whole wheat pasta, has carrots, celery, zucchini and olives, along with a balsamic dressing, meaning fiber and vitamins packed into that jar. The base of the soup is lentils, which are high in protein and iron. It also contains onion, garlic, carrot, celery, tomatoes, all good vegetables, plus a dose of cream (some good fats are required to help mom with milk production).

The Rocky Mountain Brisket is a lean cut of beef, slow cooked in the oven, sliced and topped with my homemade barbeque sauce. I really made this dish for dad—hearty and flavorful. And who doesn’t like a BBQ beef sandwich?

The triple ginger cookies contain three kinds of ginger, good for settling stomachs and quelling a sweet tooth. Made with molasses, raw ginger, ginger powder and crystallized ginger, these soft rounds are a family favorite and pack easily without breaking. The bacon caramels were made a few days before, with the fat from our home-cured bacon. They have garnered rave reviews from everyone who has tried them and they deserve to be shared with everyone, especially new parents.

The Brady Bunch sends the hamper with heartfelt congratulations to Meghan, Chris, and their new son Jameson.

(NOTE: The cute little stuffed monsters will be featured on Crafting Suburbia in an upcoming post)