Uh-oh: Food Blogging Entry Numero Deux!

I fear what I'm becoming... it's one thing to blog about food in general; I happen to love the many food blogs I peruse on a regular basis and have picked up many ideas, hints, and tons of inspiration from them in the past. I've been baking lately for various occasions, and my obvious pride is unparalleled.

My first recipe was for an apricot and cherry upside-down cake from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook (gorrrrrrrrgeous pics!), only I substituted for peaches and blackberries, because, well, that's what I had. I also omitted the almond paste and almond extract because I was serving the cake to a nut-allergic person, and upped the butter content instead. As a final touch, I added two split vanilla beans, scraped, to the batter. The recipe was simple but involved an extra step involving the separation of eggs and beating of egg whites to soft peaks. I don't mind this; I acutally secretly adore beating egg whites with my Kitchen Aid stand mixer because it does such a fan-freaking-tastic job of it. It's always a marvel to me... and with that statement, I become a giant nerd. I was just annoyed about the egg whites because I hadn't had the foresight to either 1. combine the rest of the ingredients in another bowl, or 2. buy another bowl for my mixer. As a result, I had to transfer said mixed batter to another bowl, wash and dry the metal bowl meticulously (egg whites won't fluff up in a dirty bowl, remember?), and THEN beat the egg whites. Oh, at midnight.

In traditional upside-down cake recipes, the fruit is first caramelized in a skillet. In our simplified version, the butter and sugar are creamed and spread into the cake pan; then the fruit is layered over the mixture and topped with cake batter.


Martha Stewart's Apricot and Cherry Upside-Down Cake:


Makes one 8-inch cake

ingredients
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
1¼ cups sugar
5 to 6 medium fresh apricots (about 1 pound), halved and pitted
12 ounces fresh sweet cherries (such as Bing), stemmed, pitted, and halved
¾ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons fine yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup almond paste (not marzipan), crumbled
3 large eggs, separated
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon pure almond extract
½ cup milk
to prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter an 8-by-3-inch round cake pan, and line bottom with parchment paper. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat 2 tablespoons butter with ¼ cup sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Spread evenly over bottom of prepared pan. Arrange apricot halves, cut sides down, in pan. Fit cherries into any gaps between apricots. Pack down the fruit slightly with your hands; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat remaining 6 tablespoons butter until smooth, about 1 minute. Add almond paste and ¾ cup sugar, and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the egg yolks, and beat until well combined. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts. Add the flour mixture in two parts, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until combined, and set aside.

In the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Gradually sprinkle in the remaining ¼ cup sugar, and beat until soft peaks form. Fold a third of egg-white mixture into the batter with a spatula. Gently fold in remaining egg whites.

Spread batter over fruit, smoothing with an offset spatula. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool slightly, about 15 minutes. Run a knife or small offset spatula around the edges to loosen, and invert cake onto a serving plate to cool completely. Cake can be kept at room temperature, loosely covered with foil, for up to 3 days.

I was miffed by the grid-pattern left on the top of the cake by my pan, and also by the blackberry juices running everywhere, ruining my beautiful cake. However, I got requests for the recipe (here you go, Cat!) and enjoyed it too, though I thought it was a bit "eggy".

The second baking adventure this weekend involved two different kinds of biscuits (same reference for recipes): Cornbread biscuits and fennel-and-raisin biscuits. Yum.



























Now I promise -- no more food blogging for at least two weeks. It seems like a good time to start talking about going on a diet, though...

Things I Swore I'd Never Do That I Find Myself Doing

Along with Facebook and buying my underwear at Costco, food blogging is one of those things I swore I would never do. I love cooking (and more importantly, I love eating), but it agitates me to no end when everyone has to stop everything to take endless photographs of food at family dinners. It's probably because I just want to dig in and taking pictures takes away from precious eating time. I think I also fear that if I were to food blog, there would be whispers of, "Well, no wonder she looks like that, all she thinks about is food..."

Anyway. We had some lovely friends over for dinner last night, and along with the crab legs, the shrimp, the Korean beef ribs, the mango-peanut noodle salad, and the grilled vegetables, I made this nectarine tart.

The crust was meh; I made it in the food processor according to the instructions in my Joy of Cooking and found it tough, but I probably overworked it and I didn't let it rest, as I was impatient to get on with the day. Also, cutting up 8 nectarines into 1/8" slices and then arranging said slices in a billion rosettes in the tart crust can only be described as, hm, mentally fatiguing and a huge pain in the ass.

However, it was very pretty when it was done.














My compliants are as follows:

1. The tart was very thin because it was only as high as a nectarine slice, so maybe half an inch.
2. I had too many slices to fit into the tart shell before baking; however, the slices got thinner as it baked, so afterwards, it seemed skimpy on the fruit.
3. My crust sucked. A crumb crust with ground almonds in it would have been quite nice.
4. It took way longer than the 40 minutes the recipe called for to be finished.
5. The juices released by the nectarines totally watered down the custard.
6. Have I mentioned that it was a massive pain in the ass to make?
7. I forgot the ice cream.

There you have it! I wonder if you'll find me food blogging again in the future.

Some Things Just Shouldn't Be Allowed

(an ode to the ladies in front of me in line at the grocery store.)

The discount grocery where I shop
Has "No Name" that I dare to speak
The shopping carts are yours with change
But quarters not I had with me.

The store was crowded, full of folks
Short on cereal, juice, and chips
I struggled through with eco-friendly bags
To buy the food that we would eat.

Lineups were long and tempers were short
The ice cream I had was melting fast
But suddenly I saw with joy
The shortest line, in front of me!

I set my bags down on the floor
And breathed a sigh of sweet relief
Then saw with fear the over-stuffed cart
Without an owner, waiting patiently.

You and your friend, in her pink pullover
Arrived with pasta and armfuls of fruit
You used your cart to save your spot
And continued shopping in the store.

You returned to the line and went to purchase
As your friend continued her shopping spree
I waited twenty goddamn minutes
While she looked for Tang Crystals and olive oil!

When she returned again this third time
with bottles of root beer that where on sale
I smirked inside at her dismay
Because I had moved ahead in line.

The cashier was impatient, annoyed, like me
And voided her transaction immediately
Then moved on to my purchases while she waited
Revenge was mine, so sweet, so sweet.