TWD: Cornmeal Ricotta Cake

Caitlin of Engineer Baker chose the Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake as this week's recipe. In many ways this is completely up my alley, as much to my family's chagrin, I LOVE cornmeal/polenta (and even grits :)). We also had a long-planned dinner party with some old acquaintances from the St. Louis days, so here was dessert. What better way to welcome relative strangers for dinner than to serve dessert containing corn and figs. For the record, Adam was a-ok with figs, while Jolie left them behind.

My cake whipped up in a flash, after I chose to lengthwise half my figs for ease of cutting. After benefiting from the recommended 24 hour trip at the counter top spa, fluted polenta and ricotta cake was ready to serve. As I cut it, I noticed that the figs had spent a substantial portion of their sauna time migrating toward the outer edges of the pan, leaving them pushed up against the outer edge. Below is the written recipe, and the pedestrian photo I took of my cake.

Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake

About 16 moist, plump dried Mission or Kadota figs, stemmed
1 c. medium-grain polenta or yellow cornmeal
½ c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 c. ricotta
1/3 c. tepid water
¾ c. sugar
¾ c. honey (if you’re a real honey lover, use a full-flavored honey such as chestnut, pine, or buckwheat)
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 large eggs

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 10 ½-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom and put it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.
Check that the figs are, indeed, moist and plump. If they are the least bit hard, toss them into a small pan of boiling water and steep for a minute, then drain and pat dry. If the figs are large (bigger than a bite), snip them in half.
Whisk the polenta, flour, baking powder, and salt together.
Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the ricotta and water together on low speed until very smooth. With the mixer at medium speed, add the sugar, honey, and lemon zest and beat until light. Beat in the melted butter, then add the eggs one at a time, beating until the mixture is smooth. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are fully incorporated. You’ll have a sleek, smooth, pourable batter.
Pour about one third of the batter into the pan and scatter over the figs. Pour in the rest of the batter, smooth the top with a rubber spatula, if necessary, and dot the batter evenly with the chilled bits of butter.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. The cake should be honey brown and pulling away just a little from the sides of the pan, and the butter will have left light-colored circles in the top. Transfer the cake to a rack and remove the sides of the pan after about 5 minutes. Cool to warm, or cool completely.

One Clever Girl

This afternoon, I left K happily crafting "happy hearts" at the kitchen table, and ducked to the basement to check my email. A few minutes later, she came down to tell me that our neighbor, Q was coming over to play. Assuming that she had made a pretend phone call, I thought nothing of it, until the dog started barking. Sure enough, Q was at our house. K had dialed the number a few times in the past week or so, remembered it and placed the call all by herself. Maybe she's too clever for her own good!

TWD: Carrot Cake

knitting baby gift+weekend at college roommate's baby shower= no carrot cake (this week) for us.

A is very sad. Looking forward to next week!

McQuade's Chutney

I've been reading the Blake Makes blog for quite a few weeks. About two weeks ago, readers were offered the chance to win a jar of McQuade's Fig 'N Ginger Chutney by submitting their intended use for it. Recently, I've been craving a bagel from my college days -- whole wheat, with melted brie cheese and raspberry jam. My suggestion was to swap the brie for goat cheese and use the chutney in place of the aforementioned jam.

I had the chance to try this after my chutney arrived in the mail the other day. I stopped by the local bagel shop, and popped into Zingerman's Deli in search of some fresh goat cheese. Just minutes later, I had my bagel. It was chewy, and creamy, and the balance of the goat cheese with the piquancy of the chutney was perfect. After half a bagel, I had another...

TWD: Marshmallow Bravado

This week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe was Marshmallow, chosen by Judy of Judy's Gross Eats. Easy, I thought, as I first made these marshmallows after hearing Dorie on NPR (probably The Splendid Table) in December 2006. Yes, it contains somewhat finicky meringue and involves the use of a candy thermometer, but I can just whip out those marshmallows like a pro.

J and K thought that we should experiment a bit. J read through "playing around," and wanted to make Mango Marshmallows. K falls right in my camp and thought that we should try a cinnamon marshmallow.

First batch: Mango. Things went so smoothly. I was concerned after reading the comments of other TWD bakers about the stickiness of the marshmallows. I set them in a 8x11 pan. They were fluffy, pale yellow and separated beautifully from the parchment after I cut away the outer edge. Unlike my 2006 batch of marshmallow, these even had only a dusting of corn starch around them.

Second batch: The sugar is boiling away, the gelatin is gelling. K over whips the egg whites a bit, so they aren't as smooth and shiny. I decide that they will still work. The doorbell rings, the dog goes a bit bananas, and I take off to answer it. By the time I return, (it was just K, trying to make the dog bark) the sugar is past 290 degrees, and rapidly caramelizing. I move it off the burner to try and cool it. When the sugar cools down slightly, I mix it with the egg whites. The entire mixture separates rather than mixes, but eventually seems to come together well with the gelatin added. To add the cinnamon/chocolate combination K and I had decided on, I fold in 3 tbsp melted bittersweet chocolate, 2 tbsp cocoa powder, and the substantial shake of cinnamon that K had added to the mix. My mixing bowl now has large amounts of sugar hardened on the sides, making it nearly impossible to evenly fold in the cinnamon/chocolate mixture.

As best I can, I pour the marbleized marshmallow mixture into another prepared 9x13 pan, pulling up the parchment to contain the marshmallow in half the pan.

Saturday night: We're having dinner with some friends, and the dessert is my contribution. I've made strawberry shortcakes in addition to my less traditional offering of mango and cinnamon/chocolate marshmallows. The mango marshmallows, while beautiful, are less compelling than their cinnamon/chocolate counterparts. The cinnamon/chocolate mixture sank toward the bottom of the marshmallows, and hardened into a moderately stiff chocolate stripe. The contrast of the stiff chocolate and the fluffy (although not nearly as fluffy as the mango ones) marshmallow brought out the best of both components.

What's underfoot?

When we moved into this house in 2004, I was excited about the hardwood floor in the kitchen. What an upgrade from the linoleum in the last house! It took all of a week, after I spilled the bottle of infant vitamins on the floor, for me to begin cursing the floor. My hardwood kitchen floor has ridges between each board --big infant vitamin, flour dust, toast crumb fitting ridges. The aforementioned baby vitamins took weeks of scraping with a toothpick to finally disappear. Our family of four can make a lot fill those ridges, and the rare days where I decide to clean the floor at floor level rather than with a mop leave me strangely dissatisfied, since I feel as though the last Play-Doh bits are forever embedded under K's chair, eight ridges from the family room carpet.

It was a Real Simple kind of week

In general, J and K are pretty adventurous eaters. As long as it doesn't contain chunks of tomatoes, they'll give it a fair shake. Running out the door for J's music lesson last week, I knew that the dinner shopping for the rest of the week had to be done in under 20 minutes. My May issue of Real Simple was lying there, and inspiration it became.



While I really enjoy reading Real Simple, I go hot and cold on their weeknight dinners column. Some months are fab, others head straight to the recycle bin. Two of the most recent recipes are definite keepers for us.

Thursday we ate the Risotto With Edamame, Lemon Zest, and Tarragon. http://food.realsimple.com/realsimple/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1728834 . (The photo below comes from their website as well.)




Risotto With Edamame, Lemon Zest, and Tarragon

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 cups Arborio rice
1 cup dry white wine (such as Sauvignon Blanc)
4 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups shelled edamame, thawed
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon, chopped
1 cup grated Parmesan
Kosher salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 4 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the wine and cook, stirring frequently, until the liquid is absorbed.Stir in the broth, 3/4 cup at a time (waiting until each addition of broth is absorbed before adding the next), and cook, stirring occasionally. It should take about 25 minutes for all the broth to be absorbed.Remove from heat and stir in the edamame, lemon zest, tarragon, 3/4 cup of the Parmesan, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.Spoon into individual bowls and top with the remaining Parmesan.


Shortcut: To thaw edamame and other frozen bagged vegetables quickly, place them in a colander or a mesh strainer and run them under cool water.
Yield: Makes 4 servings



I had the tarragon on hand from the previous week, and added lemon juice and touch of extract to the recipe. I also added celery and garlic with the onions.


Last night was an even better success. We had Shrimp Cakes with Carrot Slaw. The original published version of this recipe is here. http://food.realsimple.com/realsimple/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1728843 The version below incorporates my changes.

Shrimp Cakes with Carrot Slaw

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
pinch sugar
Kosher salt and pepper
6 medium radishes, grated
4 large carrots, grated
2/3 large cucumber, grated

2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
1 tsp cajun seasoning
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 egg
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup fresh cilantro sprigs

Combine the lemon juice, cumin, 2 tablespoons of the oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl. Add the radishes and carrots and toss to combine; set aside. Pulse the shrimp in a food processor until coarsely chopped. Add the jalapeno, orange zest, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and pulse to combine.Place the flour in a shallow bowl. Shape the shrimp mixture into 8 patties and dredge in the flour, tapping off the excess.Heat the remaining oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the patties until golden brown and cooked through, about 2 minutes per side. Divide the shrimp cakes among individual plates and serve with the carrot slaw, and cilantro.


Make Ahead: The uncooked patties can be shaped (but not dredged in the flour), placed on a baking sheet in a single layer, covered, and then refrigerated for up to 24 hours or frozen for up to 3 months. Dredge the patties in the flour before cooking.


Yield: Makes 4 servings