A FRENCH APPLE CAKE

Ingredients:

5 apples, not too large, choose a few different baking varieties 

some cinnamon and brown sugar
the zest and juice of one small lemon

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup almond flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

some apricot or apple jelly, melted in the microwave when ready to use

Directions:

• Reserve one of the apples. Peel the other four and remove their cores. Cut them up into 1-inch pieces. Place them into a bowl and sprinkle some cinnamon and brown sugar over them, mix, cover and set aside.
• Mix the lemon zest with the sugar and set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C.
• Grease a spring-form pan and place it on a baking sheet that’s lined with parchment paper.
• In a bowl, mix the flour, almond flour, salt, and baking powder.
• In the bowl of a mixer, beat the eggs until they are foamy. Add the sugar and beat until it’s incorporated and has dissolved.
• Add the vanilla and lemon juice. Mix well.
• Remove the bowl from the mixer.
• Using a rubber spatula, fold in one-third of the flour mixture, then add one-third of the butter. Folding gently, repeat this process two more times, until all of the flour and butter have been used. The mixture should turn out smooth and a little thick.
• Gently fold the apples into the batter. 
• Add the mixture to the spring-form pan.
• Peel the reserved apple, slice it, and arrange it over the cake batter. 
• Bake for about one hour or until a knife inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
• Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to rest for at least fifteen minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edges of the cake and open the spring-form pan slowly. 
• Allow the cake to cool for about an hour. Remove the sides of the spring-form pan.
• Invert the cake onto parchment paper and remove the bottom of the spring-form pan. Flip the cake onto a serving platter.
• Glaze the top of the cake with some melted jelly

Chicken Corn Soup with Rivels and Saffron: in Praise of Pennsylvania Dutch Saffron

Chicken corn soup: one of my favourite soups! Always delicious and warming, a cup of chicken corn soup makes me happy! 

This is one of those quick-to-make recipes. The broth is a low salt store-bought variety, however, you can always make your own! If you can find fresh corn, use it. Save the cobs and let them cook in the broth, then remove them before serving. 

Crocus sativus growing somewhere in Pennsylvania's yellow belt!

The soup contains a pinch of saffron. Did you know there is saffron harvested in Pensylvania Dutch country?

"Saffron Gatherers" found at Akrotiri, island of Thera, Greece. 

Indeed, saffron is an ancient crop. The fresco above depicts the "Saffron Gatherers," (circa 1600-1500 BCE) and was found at Akrotiri, Greece. 

The Pennsylvania Dutch began to cultivate saffron during the 18th century from crocus bulbs they received via Spanish traders who frequented Philadelphia. It turned out that the soil and climate of Pennsylvania were perfect for this crop. Saffron-growing regions became plentiful and came to be called Pennsylvania's "yellow belt." Saffron does cost around $100 per ounce, therefore saffron farming sounds like a lucrative enterprise. However, the crop is difficult to harvest and for that reason, it's no longer widely farmed in Pennsylvania. It's good saffron, though. One of the best varieties anywhere! 

Here's what makes this crop difficult to harvest: all aspects of its farming must be done by hand. Back in the day "farming by hand" included all farming but today things have changed. The bulbs which produce saffron must be dug up and replanted each year. When the flowers are ready, they must be harvested by hand. Then, one has to carefully pick each stigma from each flower. One crocus flower contains about three stigmas. Growing saffron is time-consuming and labour intensive; the profit margin doesn't seem worth it to most. Those who still grow saffron view their job as a labour of love: there's something beautiful about cultivating crocus bulbs, waiting till their blooms emerge, and looking at land covered with masses of purple flowers. Then, one by one, gold threads of saffron are extracted from each blossom. It's hard work but there's pleasure to be found in it.   

Recipe for chicken corn soup:

Versions of this soup include the addition of either noodles or rivels. Rivels are very easy to make and resemble a small dumpling. They are a type of noodle that's very popular with the Pennsylvania Dutch. And they're tasty delicious!

Ingredients: 

5 cups of corn kernels
7 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 celery ribs, diced
1 carrot, diced

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

a few sprigs of thyme

a pinch of saffron
salt and pepper to taste
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts sliced
2 potatoes cut into small cubes

rivels

To make the rivels:

1 cup flour

2 eggs, beaten

A pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper
some thyme
1 teaspoon of baking powder

Using a fork, mix all the ingredients until just blended. Do not over-mix. Cover and reserve until ready to use.

When it's time, this dough will be added into the soup by rubbing pieces of it between one's hands and letting the resulting crumb-like drops fall into the hot broth. 

Directions for the soup:

• In a blender, combine 2 cups of corn kernels and 2 cups of chicken broth. Puree until smooth, and set aside.
• In a Dutch oven heat the olive oil and add the onion, celery and carrot.
• Cook, stirring until the vegetables begin to soften.
• Add the remaining corn and cook for a few minutes, just until the corn is softened.
• Stir in the rest of the broth, the chicken, and the pureed corn mixture. Add the saffron, salt and pepper and thyme.
• Bring to boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for five minutes.
• Into the hot liquid drop pea-sized pieces of rivels. Cook until they are tender. This should take less than ten minutes. 
• Add the parsley.
• Ready to serve!

CARAMEL CUSTARD FLAN (Crème Caramel)

Ready for the Easter dessert table: this custard with its slightly bitter caramel topping and its creamy texture, in my opinion, is one of the best desserts ever! It's been a favourite since childhood and I can report that it's loved by all the family. It isn't difficult to make but it does require lots of steps. The results are worth it.

Have all the ingredients at the ready before you begin. Care should be taken not to burn one's hands: use oven mitts and other precautions because to make this dessert you'll need to work quickly and with lots of hot ingredients. Carefully tempering the eggs so that they don't curdle is a must. Other than that ... be confident! And enjoy some crème caramel once in a while. It's just a super-yummy experience!!!

To prepare the baking pans:

1. The custard will need to be baked in a water bath. Therefore, have some boiling hot water at the ready. Heating it in a tea kettle would be very expedient: you may then pour it directly into the bain-marie from the tea kettle.
2. Have a roasting pan (about 9 x13 inches in size) and one round 8-inch cake pan at the ready. The larger pan will be used to hold water for the bain-marie. 
3. Preheat the oven to 350 F. 
4. Place the cake pan in the oven to allow it to heat up before the caramel is added.

To make the caramel:

1/2 cup sugar
4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) water
two drops of lemon extract

1. Add all the ingredients into a saucepan and stir.
2. Cook over medium heat until the sugar begins to take on a caramel colour. This should take about five minutes.
3. Remove the saucepan from the heat; do not allow the caramel to burn. 
4. Carefully, remove the cake pan from the oven but do not turn off the oven. 
5. Pour the caramel into the pan and swirl it around so that it coats the bottom of the pan evenly. 
6. Set aside.

For the custard:

2 cups heavy cream
1 and 1/3 cup whole milk
4 eggs
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Bring the cream and milk to a boil.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, yolks and sugar. Using a handheld mixer works well! 
3. Stir in the vanilla.
4. The milk and egg mixtures will need to be combined. Begin by tempering the eggs: 
5. While whisking, very slowly add a ladleful of the milk mixture. In the same fashion add a second ladleful. Keep whisking: this way the eggs won't curdle as the hot liquid is being introduced. 
6. Once the initial batches of liquid are added, slowly begin adding the rest while still whisking. 

To make the flan:

1. Pour the custard onto the caramel-lined cake pan.
2. Place the cake pan inside the larger baking pan.
3. Place the two pans in the oven but don't shut the oven door just yet.
4. Careful - use oven mitts to avoid burns: pour hot water inside the large pan, allowing it to surround the cake pan. Let the water come halfway up the cake pan. Close the oven door.
5. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a knife into the centre of the custard. It should come out clean.
6. Carefully remove the whole contraption from the oven.
7. Transfer the cake pan to a cooling rack. Run a knife around the sides of the pan to loosen the flan. Allow it to cool for about an hour.
8. Cover, place in the refrigerator and let chill for six hours minimum. 
9. When ready to serve, run a knife once again between the custard and the pan.
10. Invert the flan onto a rimmed serving platter. It should easily come out of the pan. Most of the caramel sauce will stay on top although some of it will run down the sides making for a lovely decoration.

Roasted Asparagus with Pinoli Nuts

Spring has arrived! Asparagus is one of the best vegetables to serve during this time of year. Here's a quick and delicious way to prepare asparagus: roast it for a few minutes, then top it with lemon zest, pinoli nuts, and Pecorino Romano cheese. It's a wonderful treat for dinner!!! 

You could let the asparagus sit in the olive oil and lemon juice for about half an hour. I did this once when I was called away, and I discovered that the asparagus came out of the oven rather delicious. It was even good to be eaten raw like an asparagus salad, or should I say it would have been perfect had I left it to be eaten raw. Marinated and baked makes the asparagus a little too crispy but it's definitely tasty! 

Ingredients:

1 pound of asparagus
2 tablespoons olive oil

the juice of half a lemon

salt and pepper to taste

a touch of garlic powder (optional)

lightly toasted pinoli nuts (pine nuts)

2 tablespoons chopped parsley
the zest of one lemon

2 tablespoons grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425° F.

Remove the tough ends from the asparagus. 

Place the asparagus on a parchment-covered baking sheet.
Toss with salt, pepper, lemon juice, and olive oil.
Roast until the asparagus just begins to brown. This should take about ten minutes.
Meanwhile, mix the toasted pinoli nuts, parsley, lemon zest, and Pecorino Romano cheese.
Remove the asparagus from the oven and toss it with the pinoli nut mixture.
Ready to serve and enjoy! 

 

POLENTA WITH FETA CHEESE! Shall we say Greek-style polenta?

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage

1 roasted red pepper peeled and chopped 

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 quart liquid such as water or vegetable broth

1 cup ground cornmeal

1 tablespoon grated Pecorino Romano cheese

1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C.

In a large, oven-safe saucepan heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add the onions and cook until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and stir, then add the peppers, sage, and the liquid. Bring to a boil.

Gradually whisk in the cornmeal, stirring constantly. Cover and place in the oven. Cook for 35 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes to prevent lumps. Once the mixture is creamy, remove from the oven and add the remaining olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and gradually add the cheeses.

Serve or pour the polenta into a pan lined with parchment paper. Cover and place in the refrigerator to cool and set.

Once set, turn the polenta out onto a cutting board and cut into portions. Brush each side with olive oil and sauté or grill. 

Once grilled, it's nice to have as part of a salad, topped with tomatoes, capers, Kalamata olives, more feta cheese, and drizzled with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

TSOUREKI - GREEK EASTER BREAD, POLITIKO TSOUREKI, SWEET AND FRAGRANT

Topped with cinnamon sugar and sliced almonds

All Greek Easter bread is sweet and fragrant, and there are lots of tsoureki recipes out there. I use two recipes, one of which makes a brioche-style tsoureki which requires a pretty decent amount of butter. 

The recipe in this post is a politiko tsoureki, meaning a tsoureki made in the style of Constantinople; it's more bread-like but very, very flavourful and it comes together with great results!!!

Once tsoureki is taken out of the oven and has cooled down it can be stored in plastic bags and frozen for up to two months. I always make mine ahead of time for the holiday. No reason to rush around at the last minute. So many other things to do right before Easter!

If you cannot find mahlepi and/or mastic, leave them out and for the mastic substitute with two teaspoons of vanilla extract. You will still get a very fragrant bread. To tell you the truth I am not a big fan of mastic, therefore I use it sparingly. Mahlepi is the seed found in the wild cherry fruit. It has an exceptionally aromatic flavour. I love it! However, if you can't mahlepi, think about using a little almond extract. Just a little, because almond extract is potent in flavour. Nothing is written in stone, and there's no reason to miss out on making tsoureki just because certain spices are not available. So ... get ready, get set, go! 

Good luck!!!

Ingredients:

2 cups milk, lukewarm

3 envelopes active dry yeast: 7grams (1/4 ounces) per envelope 
7 cups bread flour
1 cup bread flour for the starter
1 cup bread flour to use during kneading 
*Total bread flour needed is nine cups

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

Grated rind of two oranges
Grated rind of two lemons

140 grams (5 ounces or 10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cool to the touch

5 eggs well-beaten

3 mastic tears (no more than three), finely ground

1 tablespoon finely ground mahlepi

For the egg wash:

1 egg, beaten

2 tablespoons milk  

Mix together the beaten egg and the 2 tablespoons of milk.

Toppings: sesame seeds or almonds (some folks use cinnamon sugar). 

This is the sugar mixed with the orange and lemon rinds, the mastic and the mahlepi: mixing with the sugar helps them better dissolve and be distributed throughout the dough and this brings fantastically tasty results to the tsoureki!

Directions for making the tsoureki:

• The best way to prepare mastic for baking is to pulverise it with a mortar and pestle. Place a tablespoon of sugar in a mortar and add the three tears of mastic. Use the pestle to smash up the mastic, mixing it with the sugar. Mastic flavour is strong. For this recipe, I wouldn't use more than three tears. Even if you like the mastic aroma,  too much of it will produce bitterness rather than give fragrance to your baked goods. 
• In a large bowl mix together seven cups of bread flour and 1 teaspoon of salt. Set it aside. 
• Prepare an extra cup of flour to have at the ready. Set it aside. You should now have eight cups of flour set aside. 
• Heat the milk to lukewarm. It mustn't be hot at all because it is to be mixed with the yeast, and if it's too hot it will kill the yeast.  
• Make the starter: 
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment stir together the milk and yeast until the yeast is dissolved.  
• Slowly add one cup of flour. This will be the ninth cup. 
• Add 1/2 cup of the sugar. 
• On low speed, fold until well incorporated, then turn off the mixer, remove the attachment, cover and let rest in a warm place for one hour. 
• When the hour is up you will have your starter! Fit the dough hook attachment to the mixer. 
• To the yeast mixture add the orange rind, lemon rind, mahlepi, and mastic. 
• Add the rest of the sugar, the eggs, and the butter.
• Stir on low speed and start adding the reserved flour about one cup at a time. 
• When all seven cups are incorporated beat for about 15 minutes until the mixture has turned into a nice dough which slides away from the sides of the bowl. The dough should be a little sticky. Turn off the mixer.

  

  The dough right after being taken out of the mixer.

• Use flour from the cup which was set aside. You may need to use all of it or you may not: sprinkle flour on a clean surface and move the dough on top of it. 
• Begin to knead gently until the dough gets nice and silky. It should not require too much more kneading. The dough will absorb as much of the extra flour as it needs.
• Place the dough into a large bowl along with any excess flour left on the kneading surface. The excess flour will keep the dough from sticking to the bowl.
• Cover well and let rise in a place free of drafts until it is doubled in volume. It should take three hours at most.
• Punch down the dough, take it out of the bowl and using a knife divide it into pieces. With the amount of dough in this recipe, you can make two really large tsoureki or three smaller ones. The decision is up to the baker!
• Keep in mind that in order to form tsoureki you'll have to plait the dough as though you are plaiting a braid: three pieces of dough to one braid!
• Let's say you want to make three Easter breads. Cut up your dough into three equal size pieces.
• Take one of the pieces and cut it into three equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rod shape. When you have three rods, go ahead and braid them. Now, one of your Easter breads is ready! Repeat the process until you are done. You'll have three Easter breads! 
• Place each braid of tsoureki on a parchment-covered baking sheet. If you have a large baking sheet, you may be able to fit two braids on it.
• In a draft-free environment, let the braids rise until they have doubled in size. While they are rising, keep a light kitchen towel over them.
• Once doubled, brush the braids with the egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds or almonds. Do it gently, so that the dough doesn't deflate. The almonds used can be sliced, slivered, or you can use whole blanched almonds.
• Bake in a 350F/180C preheated oven for about 40 minutes or until golden. The baking time really depends on the amount of dough used per Easter bread.  
• Let cool before eating. Keep in mind that while the tsoureki is fresh out of the oven it's fragile and can break. Give it about half an hour to an hour of cooling time before you handle it.

I would call these the "money shots!" Not too sexy looking photographically speaking, but what is shown here are the fibres created in the dough. The presence of a good fibre means a good tsoureki. This is the type of airy and fibrous appearance a good Easter bread should have!