Tomato and Bread Soup

Long overdue, but here is an old staple of ours posted at last. Perfect in summer and in winter (if you can find good enough tomatoes), any time the ends of a loaf of bread need eating.

The recipe is adapted from James Beard's Cooking for Two, which we received as a wedding gift and have used much since.

Heat a good 1/4 cup of excellent olive oil in a pan and add one small onion and two cloves of garlic, all minced. Cook until translucent, then add 3-4 ripe tomatoes that smell like summer (otherwise don't bother) and a teaspoon of salt; cook about 20 mins. until the tomatoes are soft. Turn off the heat, stir in 3/4 cup of bread crumbs, and allow to sit for a few minutes. Top with freshly grated parmesan and basil leaves.

This is a meal in itself, but a glass of red wine certainly won't go amiss.

Nanny's Raisin Loaf

Officially "Wanda's Fruit Loaf," this is a specialty Gran brought with her in May, and we've been enjoying it for tea every day, with a generous slather of butter. Imagine a cake with no shortening! This is simple and moist and a tasty snack for a certain tiny someone.

Combine 1 1/2 c flour, 1 c sugar, ½ tsp salt, 3 tsp baking powder, 1 c raisins.
Beat 1 egg in 1 c milk and stir into above mix.
Bake at 350 about 45 min.

Vanilla Roasted Pears

This recipe was just posted on Smitten Kitchen, and I tried it out for dessert last night. I used more lemon (perhaps twice as much) as the recipe calls for and only four medium-sized pears, but it was beautiful! The only additional thing I would do next time is turn the juices more "caramelly" by boiling them on the stove after the pears come out of the oven, but even as-is, this was a fantastic dessert (made all the more fancy by butterscotch sauce, also from SK, and Purity French Vanilla ice cream).

Smitten Kitchen's Vanilla Roasted Pears
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 vanilla bean
1 1/2 pounds slightly-under-ripe, fragrant, medium pears, peeled if desired, halved though the stem and cored (I used Bosc but will be giving this recipe a spin with Bartlets later today; Schneider says all varieites work)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoon unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 375°F. Place the sugar in a small bowl. With a thin, sharp knife, split the vanilla bean lengthwise in half and scrape out the seeds. Stir the seeds into the sugar.

Arrange the pears in a large baking dish, cut-side up. Drizzle the lemon juice evenly over the fruit, then sprinkle with the sugar. Nestle the vanilla pod among the fruit (I first slit my halves lengthwise into quarters). Pour the water into the dish. Dot each pear with some butter.

Roast the pears 30 minutes brushing them occasionally with the pan juices. Turn the pears over and continue roasting, basting once or twice, until tender and caramelized, 25 to 30 minutes longer (if the pears are small, test for doneness after 35 or 40 minutes of cooking; a paring knife poked into the thickest part of one should meet with no resistance).

Fall Compote

My first post-baby blog (finally)!

Awhile ago I posted a note about our favourite winter dessert: Fage yogurt topped with compote and Howland's creamed honey. Every time I go looking for my preferred compote recipe, though, I can't find it! So, here it is, adapted from Gourmet.

Bring 2 c. apple juice, 1/2 c. sugar, 4 strips of lemon zest, 1 cinnamon stick, 3 cloves, 10 cracked black peppercorns to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved, and simmer 5 minutes. Add 1 tbsp. butter and a total of 1 to 1 1/2 c. dried fruit (I use prunes, apricots, figs, sometimes apples or cherries) and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until fruit is plump. (Optional: pour liquid through a sieve into another saucepan and boil until reduced to 1 cup.) Pour liquid back over fruit and stir in 2 tbsp. Calvados (I usually use a gloop of rum) and 1 tbsp. lemon juice.

Sri Lankan Fish Curry

D & G hit the fish truck on Friday morning, so we prepared a fabulous haddock curry for dinner. It was rich, lemongrassy, turmeric-bright and perfectly flaky with the freshest fish. Here's the recipe, adapted from Homestyle Southeast Asian Cooking by Rani King and Chandra Khan.

Coconut Fish Curry

Mix 1/2 tsp. cayenne (for a fairly mild version) with 1 tsp turmeric, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 3 crushed cloves of garlic, 1 tsp grated fresh ginger, 2 tsp salt and 2 onions (chopped). Toss gently with 1 lb. haddock (or other firm curry fish) cubed into 1" pieces with the spice mix and allow to sit for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, lightly fry 2-3 bay leaves (or 5 curry leaves) and 3" strips of lemongrass from one stalk in oil until fragrant; add the fish to the pan and gently fry until brown.

Add the remaining spice mixture to the pan along with 3/4 c. coconut milk; serve on rice.

Adventures in Baking

As little D's arrival approaches, big D and I did some baking. In our first Sunday New York Times (Magazine, 13/09) we discovered a recipe for a "Huguenot Torte," a 1965 dessert based on something called Ozark Pudding, which we had never tasted.

Since it is apple season, we thought we'd try it nonetheless, and it was VERY GOOD! I'd never had anything like it: a butter-tart-like filling of floury and sugary pecans and apples topped with a crisp meringue-type topping. But easily made in a single bowl (we used our Kitchen Aid, otherwise known as the Albatross, and I think this may have been key to the fluffy result).

Here is the recipe:

Preheat oven to 325F.
Beat 2 eggs and 1/2 tsp. salt until fluffy; gradually beat in 1 1/2 c. sugar.
Beat in 1 tsp. vanilla, 4 tbsp. flour and 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder.
Fold in 1 c. peeled and chopped tart apples along with 1 c. coarsely chopped pecans.
Pour into deep (at least 2") 9 x 9 pan; bake for 45 minutes until puffed up and then sunken.
Serve warm either plain, with whipped cream, crème fraiche or sour cream.

We think this would be divine with maple syrup instead of sugar.

A day later, P and I had an afternoon date during which we decided to make cookies. Since we'd just polished off 9 dozen (yes, we shared) chocolate chip cookies made for the hospital but finished well before we got there, we thought we'd better make something new, so chose the Spiced Ginger Mound recipe from my old Purity cookbook. It makes (I quote from my notes on the book's page) "Extremely tasty, lovely, gently-gingered cookies. EXCELLENT."

Here, then, is the recipe for what we now consider our house gingersnapchew:

Preheat oven to 325F.
Cream together 3/4 c. shortening (we use Becel), 1 c. sugar; add one egg and 1/4 c. molasses.
Add the following dry ingredients, pre-mixed: 2 c. all purpose flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. cloves, 1 tsp. ginger and 1/4 tsp. salt.
Mix well, then shape into small balls (1-2" depending on desired cookie size).
Roll balls in sugar, place on greased or non-stick baking sheets and bake for 12 minutes (chewy) to 15 minutes (snappy).
Try not to eat them all in the first 10 minutes out of the oven.

Raspberry Jam Teacakes

At a recent party, we asked a few select guests to bring cupcakes as dessert, and J., as usual, outdid herself.

This will be the first time ever that I've posted a recipe that I've not only never made, I've never actually sampled (a kid at the party told everyone that J.'s cupcakes were "the best thing that have ever happened to me in my whole life!!!" and presto, they were gone). But, I trust J. so implicitly, and I saw so many happy jammy faces at the party, that I know they'll be superb.

I'll report back when I get around to making them, hopefully sooner rather than later. . .

Raspberry Jam Teacakes

1 c. soft unsalted butter
3 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. orange zest
4 eggs
1/2 c. milk
1 c. raspberry jam

Citrus Glaze:
1 1/2 C confectioner's Sugar, sifted
1/4 tsp finely grated citrus zest
3 Tbs citrus juice

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Brush standard muffin tins w/ butter & dust w/ flour, tapping out excess. Whisk together flour, baking powder & salt.
2. Cream butter, sugar & zest 'til pale & fluffy. Add egg yolks 1 at a time, beating 'til incorporated fully. Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture in three batches, alternating w/ 2 additions of milk & beating 'til just combined after each.
3. In separate bowl, whisk egg whites to soft peaks; gently fold in batter. Spoon 2 tbsp. batter into each prepared cup. Make an indentation in the middle of each; fill w/ 1 tbsp. jam (and fresh raspberries if available). Top w/ additional 2 tbsp. batter, covering jam totally.
4. Bake, rotating tins halfway through 'til cake skewer inserted in middle of cakes comes out clean, about 30mins. Remove from oven. Run a small offset spatula around edges & turn out cakes onto wire racks to cool.
5. Whisk together glaze ingredients 'til smooth; thicken with more sugar if needed.
Drizzle cakes evenly w/ glaze & let set about 30mins. Glazed cupcakes can be stored in airtight containers up to 2 days at room temp.