Author Archives: saltandserenity

Apple Custard Cake

I have a recipe for an apple caramel cake that is outstanding. But some occasions (maybe breakfast if you’re my husband) call for a simpler cake. This cake is perfect for those times. This is a dense cake. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! I mean dense in the best possible sense. This is yellow cake at it’s finest. Owing to butter, eggs, whole milk and sour cream it has a compact velvety texture.

My dad would have described this cake as plain. And he would have meant it as a great compliment. He liked subtle flavours, nothing too sweet, ornate or fancy. The inspiration for this cake comes from Sarabeth’s Good Morning Cookbook. Sarabeth knows good breakfast!

The first tweak I made to the original recipe was to toast the sugar. Stella Parks over at Serious Eats convinced me to give it a try. The bottom line is that toasting sugar in the oven tames sugar’s sweetness and the longer you toast it, the more intense the caramel flavour will be. Check out her article if food science is your jam.

I toasted my sugar for about 2 1/2 hours. The toasted sugar is on the right. I tasted both, side by side and did find that the toasted sugar tasted less sweet. You can toast 4 pounds at one time and it will keep forever, just like white sugar. Start with a 9 inch tube pan (also called an angel food cake pan). Butter and flour the pan very well.I made this cake twice last week. The first time I made it, I found it too plain. (Sorry dad!). On the second go-round I added an additional layer of apples and coated the apple slices in cinnamon-sugar.

Half the batter goes into the pan. Smooth it out.I used the first Honeycrisp apples of the fall season! Pink Lady or Granny Smith would also be great choices.Top batter with cinnamon apples.Repeat with a second layer of batter and cinnamon apples. Then drizzle with custard mixture.Resist the urge to turn the cake out of the pan until it has completely cooled. Your patience will be handsomely rewarded. The ribbon of cinnamon coated apples that runs through the center of this cake is quite beautiful.

Click here to print recipe for Apple-Custard-Cake.

Coconut Corn Soup

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Getting dressed in September is tricky business. I’m longing to pull on my over-the-knee suede boots and let the sweater layering begin, but it’s still too warm to fully embrace fall. Transitioning from summer to fall requires a skilled hand in the kitchen as well as the closet.

This month, the markets are still full of fresh corn, but I’m craving something a little heartier than corn on the cob or corn salad. This soup perfectly bridges the gap between summer and fall. The recipe for this soup comes from epicurious.com. Food editor Anna Stockwell intended this to be a pureed chilled soup for the dog days of summer. I decided to transition her recipe to fall by serving it hot. I added a large diced jalapeño to give the soup a little moxie and only pureed half the soup so that it was still chunky.Grated ginger adds a welcome zing and turmeric makes the soup a very vibrant yellow. Save the corn cobs and add them to the simmering soup. They really bump up the corn flavour. Coconut milk makes a splendid replacement for chicken stock in this soup. Avocado, lime and toasted coconut flakes are beautiful and delicious garnishes. I can’t think of a lovelier way to ease into fall.

Click here to print recipe for coconut-corn-soup.

Margherita Socca Pizza (Socca Palooza: Chapter 4)

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The final entry in my Socca Palooza is the classic Margherita; roasted cherry tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and fresh basil. Start with some sweet little tomatoes, assorted colours are pretty.Cut them in half, mix with olive oil, salt and a bit of minced garlic. Roast them for about 20 minutes. Top the soccas with roasted tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella. Pop it under the broiler to melt the cheese. Finish with fresh basil, a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of sea salt. This is a drippy messy socca. Serve with a knife, fork and lots of napkins and dig in.

Click here to print recipe for Margherita Socca Pizzas.

Za’atar Roasted Carrot and Avocado Socca Pizzas (Socca Palooza: Chapter 3)

Click here to print recipe for Za’arat Roasted Carrots with Avocado Socca Pizzas.

Ricotta Peach and Honey Socca Pizza (Socca-Palooza: Chapter 2)

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With perfect late summer peaches, this socca creation is fool proof! The combination of ripe peaches, creamy ricotta and a drizzle of honey is majestic. Fresh mint and a few flakes of fleur de sel take it to the next level of deliciousness.If you have an extra 10 minutes, please make your own ricotta for this. It’s worth it, and really very simple. I love this recipe from epicurious.com. This socca would be perfect to serve for brunch, a light lunch or a not too sweet dessert.

Click here to print recipe for Ricotta, Peach and Honey Socca Pizzas.

Zucchini, Corn and Feta Socca Pizza

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Socca is essentially a large chickpea flour flatbread. Similar in texture to a crepe, it has crisp edges and the sweet and nutty flavor of chickpeas, with a trace of smokiness from a trip under the broiler. They originated in Nice where they are cooked in wood ovens on copper disks. I thought they would be an excellent base for pizza.

I am not very skilled at drawing or painting, so I like to think of these socca crusts as my canvas and the toppings as my paint. It’s easy to create masterpieces when late summer markets are overflowing with gorgeous produce.

Mix up the socca batter; chickpea flour (I used Bob’s Redmill Garbanzo and Fava Bean Flour), water, olive oil and salt. Let the batter sit on the counter for at least 2 hours, or you can even refrigerate it overnight.Pour about 3/4 cup batter into a lightly oiled hot nonstick pan, and cook until golden brown on both sides.Channel your inner Picasso and top with whatever fills you with joy. For this version I shaved the zucchini and dressed the ribbons with fresh thyme, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. I sautéed some fresh corn kernels. Feta and olives for salt and some shredded mozzarella to create oozy cheesy goodness. Pop it under the broiler to melt the cheese and crisp up the edges.

Click here to print recipe for Zucchini, Corn and Feta Socca Pizzas.

Stay tuned over the next few days for a virtual “socca-palooza” and watch me create Ricotta, Peach and Honey Socca Pizzas, Za’atar Roasted Carrot and Avocado Socca Pizzas and Margherita Socca Pizzas.

Sweet and Salty Magic Bars

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These classic bar cookies have been around since the 1850’s! They also go by the moniker of Magic Bars, Hello Dolly Bars, Five Layer and even Seven Layer Bars. Essentially, they all begin with a melted butter and cookie crust, typically crushed graham wafers. This sweet base gets topped with more sweetness, usually chocolate or butterscotch chips, sweetened coconut and some type of nuts. A thick layer of sweetened condensed milk acts as the glue to hold everything together.

Whatever they’re called, they have never really appealed to me because they just seemed too tooth-achingly sweet. But last week I saw this charming video and knew I had to try this twist on these bars. In her new book, “Modern Potluck”, Kristen Donnelly solves the sickly sweet problem by swapping out a cookie base with a potato chip base. What??? Pure genius.

I had high hopes for these “potato chip crusted magic bars”. The combination of sweet and salty is my kryptonite. I went shopping for potato chips, because I rarely keep them in my house. Shockingly, don’t have much will power when it comes to salt. By the way, did you know that they sell unsalted potato chips? Chicken and waffle flavoured potato chips is one thing, but I draw the line at unsalted! I mean, salt is the whole point of potato chips, right?

I whipped up a batch of Kristen’s potato chip crusted magic bars. I was so excited I could barely wait for them to cool.The first bite was interesting. The crust was not as crispy as I thought it would be. Nor did it taste as salty as I was hoping for. The second bite left an almost rancid aftertaste in my mouth. I had eaten a few potato chips out of the bag as I was making the crust, and they tasted great. I suspect that cooking the potato chips a second time caused some kind of chemical reaction that changed the taste. I was so disappointed. I knew that Kristen’s idea of adding a salty crust was a great idea and I wanted to make these bars work.

And then I remembered these pretzel crusted treats I made last year. Why not trade potato chips for pretzels? Why not indeed? I topped mine with bittersweet chocolate chips, unsweetened coconut chips, salted cashews, almonds and macadamia nuts, and chopped vanilla caramels.

Watch the magic happen!

These bars have it all. A perfect sweet-salty balance and great textural contrast. Crunch from pretzels, nuts and toasted coconut, gooey sweetness from sweetened condensed milk, bittersweet from the chocolate, and chewiness from the caramel. A perfect treat.

Oh, and I figured out why they’re called magic bars. Set them out with some cold milk and watch them magically disappear. They are even more delicious straight from the freezer!

Click here to print recipe for Sweet and Salty Magic Bars.

Chilled Melon Soup

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The first time I ever saw two different kinds of soup in the same bowl, I thought it was just so magical. Corn soup on the left and Black Black Bean soup on the right. And they just stayed on their own sides of the bowl, never crossing that center line and mixing! Like at a Chassidic wedding. How did they do it? The secret is to have two liquids of roughly the same consistency, and to pour them at the same time, from opposite sides into a shallow bowl.

I got all fancy for you and poured my soups into glass pitchers. But you can just use two 1/2 cup measuring cups and it will work perfectly.

My friend Margo served these melon soups to us a few weeks ago at a big gathering at our cottage. They were so refreshing and light, I had to get the recipe to share with you. I couldn’t believe it when she said that it was simply honeydew pureed with mint and canteloupe pureed with orange juice! I added a touch of lime to my honeydew soup.

Click here to print recipe for Melon Soup.

Wild Blueberry and Corn Galette

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Galette is French for “Lazy Ass Pie.” No, not really. It actually refers to a free-form tart. Pies are a lot of work. There’s all that stress about making the crust and rolling it out without cracking. Plus, I suck at crimping. But a galette is supposed to be rustic. Rolling the dough into a perfect circle is not required, in fact, it is frowned upon. (Well, I frown upon perfect circles)

Wild blueberries have arrived and sadly, they’re only here for a few short weeks, so I take advantage of the short season and work very hard at eating my weight in wild blueberries during the month of August. This recipe would certainly work with regular blueberries, but you may need to add a bit more sugar, since wild ones are so much sweeter. You could also use frozen berries. The PC frozen wild blueberries are excellent, as are Trader Joe’s brand.

OK, let’s make a ~~lazy ass pie~~ galette. Start with the filling. Mix blueberries, tapioca flour (also called tapioca starch), sugar and lemon juice. Next we tackle the topping. This corn crisp topping was the genius idea of Bon Appetit Magazine. I saw it in their July 2016 issue, and I knew I had to try it. Such a fun idea to combine blueberry and corn in a dessert. Start with a traditional crisp topping of flour, sugar and butter. Add a touch of cornmeal for added crunch. Then cut in fresh corn kernels. Topping done. The dough comes together very quickly in the food processor. No need to chill it. Just roll it out right away between 2 sheets of parchment paper, to avoid any fuss. Time to assemble.

I made a dairy free version of the galette last weekend for some friends. I used chilled coconut oil in both the dough and the topping and it was fantastic. The coconut oil was only detected (and rejected) by one friend, but I suspect he’s a super taster.

Click here to print recipe for Wild Blueberry and Corn Galette.

Chilled Fresh Tomato Soup

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I know what you’re thinking. “Really?? Who needs another gazpacho soup recipe?” But before you abandon this post and surf on over to see what’s new for fall at Joe Fresh, just hear me out. This is a little different than your typical cold tomato soup. Half the tomatoes get roasted, for a smoky depth of flavour, and the other half are left fresh, to enhance their tangy bright nature. Combining fresh and roasted tomatoes was the brainchild of Cook’s Illustrated Magazine. They featured this soup in their July 2012 issue. I tarted it up a bit with some summer toppings.

Squeeze in a dollop of tomato paste to ramp up the umami factor. Sprinkle in a dusting of smoked paprika and cayenne and this soup is humming. Throw in some roasted garlic and shallots for fun. Yes, I’m going to ask you to turn on your oven in August, but it will be worth it. Once everything is roasted, puree the whole lot, along with some fresh tomatoes and strain it for a velvety smooth texture. Finish it off with corn, avocado and basil and you have summertime in a bowl. Have I got your attention yet?

Salt and Serenity

Tales from my kitchen

Author Archives: saltandserenity

Apple Custard Cake

Click here to print recipe for Apple-Custard-Cake.

Coconut Corn Soup

Click here to print recipe for coconut-corn-soup.

Margherita Socca Pizza (Socca Palooza: Chapter 4)

Click here to print recipe for Margherita Socca Pizzas.

Za’atar Roasted Carrot and Avocado Socca Pizzas (Socca Palooza: Chapter 3)

Click here to print recipe for Za’arat Roasted Carrots with Avocado Socca Pizzas.

Ricotta Peach and Honey Socca Pizza (Socca-Palooza: Chapter 2)

Click here to print recipe for Ricotta, Peach and Honey Socca Pizzas.

Zucchini, Corn and Feta Socca Pizza

Click here to print recipe for Zucchini, Corn and Feta Socca Pizzas.

Sweet and Salty Magic Bars

Watch the magic happen!

Click here to print recipe for Sweet and Salty Magic Bars.

Chilled Melon Soup

Click here to print recipe for Melon Soup.

Wild Blueberry and Corn Galette

Click here to print recipe for Wild Blueberry and Corn Galette.

Chilled Fresh Tomato Soup

Click here to print recipe for Chilled Fresh Tomato Soup.