Tea-scented tea cake

I had a lovely invitation to visit a friend for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres yesterday. Rosemary is a longtime friend of my aunt’s and is now a friend of ours. She lives in a wonderful apartment on the Upper East Side and wanted to show us her great kitchen and the specialty cookbook store up the block (very dangerous: I bought two!).

I didn’t want to go empty handed, and brought along some truffle salt, which I am now in love with, and particularly like in the baked risotto dish I shared recently (coincidentally, Rosemary is making it for company this week so the timing was perfect!). I also decided to concoct a matcha tea cake, which was inspired by the different versions I’ve seen around the blogosphere lately, namely on Tartelette and 80 breakfasts. The versions I’ve seen include white chocolate, which I’m not terribly fond of, and it occurred to me that I could easily adapt the moist and marbled coffee cake that I love to create a matcha-marbled version. I love that cake for its moistness and perfect balance of sweetness: it’s a phenomenal base for any flavoring. I last used matcha to make green tea ice cream. Next, I'd like to try cookies.

The little cake, which I made in a loaf pan, was a hit. It’s not only delicious but the green marbling is quite beautiful: how perfect to perfume a tea cake with tea?

Matcha tea marbled tea cake

1⁄2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pan
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup sour cream, room temperature
1.5 teaspoons matcha powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Butter a loaf pan. Line with a piece of parchment paper that covers bottom and long sides (leave some poking up from the pan to facilitate lifting the loaf out later). Butter the parchment paper.

3. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Put the butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce speed to medium. Mix in eggs, one at a time. Mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with sour cream. Add vanilla, and mix 1 minute.

4. Portion out 1/3 of the batter into a small bowl. Mix in matcha powder, stirring well to combine.

5. Spread one-third of the plain batter into prepared pan. Use a small offset spatchula to ensure an even, flat layer. Dollop with 1/3 of matcha batter and use a spatchula to gently spread the matcha layer on the top of the other. Spread another third of the plain batter on top, followed by another third of the matcha batter. Repeat one more time so that the final layer is the rest of the matcha batter. Run a thin knife through batter to marbleize. Run spatchula over top to ensure the batter is flat in the end.

6. Bake until a cake tester inserted into center comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire cooking rack for a few minutes. Lift cake out by the parchment handles and allow to cool completely on rack.

Ah! Almost forgot: I'm submitting this to this month's "click" event, the theme of which is "au naturel." I know this image is a tad random here, but it needs to be posted to my blog!

Breakfast your way: homemade granola

I’m bringing another old favorite up from the archives and updating it with recipe tweaks and new photos. It’s been a little while since I have posted a breakfast recipe, and this is still one of my favorites.

I love making my own granola because I know exactly what goes into it. If you study the ingredient label of your favorite granola, you will likely see loads of oil and some rather unfamiliar preservatives you didn’t think were in there. My granola reduces the amount of oil typically found in commercial varieties. Also, if you are as picky about what’s in your granola as I am, you can adjust this recipe quite easily to suit your taste and your pantry.

We seem to pick up nuts and oatmeal every time we're in the store forgetting how much we already have. Making granola is a great way to clear out those leftover nuts and dried fruits that tend to accumulate over the winter. This recipe calls for one 18 oz container of Quaker old-fashioned rolled oats, which yields approximately 6.5 cups of oats. If you don't have that much or don't want to make as much, use the following approximate ratios (volume) as a guide: 2:1 ratio of oats to nuts (combined, not including coconut and seeds), ~2.5 tbsp liquid per cup of oats (oil and honey).

Homemade granola

6.5 cups old fashioned rolled oats (not quick cooking)
2.5 cups unsweetened, desiccated coconut
1 cup raisins
1 cup dried cranberries (if you don’t like these, leave them out and double the quantity of raisins)
1 1/4-1 1/2 cups sliced almonds (or whole, chopped, slivered or a combination)
1 1/4 cups pecans (whole or chopped to the size you like)
1/2 cup high-quality honey
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup flax seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well to distribute oil and honey evenly. Spread a thin layer of mixture on two rimmed baking sheets (half sheet pans) lined with parchment paper. Bake for 15-20 minutes stirring mixture and rotating sheets half way through until mixture is an even golden brown. Be careful to watch granola: it will quickly turn from golden to burnt and will continue to cook as it cools when you take it out of the oven. Mixture will moist when it comes out of the oven but will crisp and clump as it cools. Keeps for 1-2 weeks (but I promise, it won’t last that long!).

Variations:

• Substitute any of the nuts for other nuts such as cashews, walnuts or peanuts (it's nice to leave some of the nuts whole as it varies the texture)
• Add additional dried fruit such as apricots or dates
• Add 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• For extra-nutty granola increase proportion of nuts

Baked (not stirred): risotto

I’m a big fan of risotto but not really a big fan of hovering over the stove and stirring and stirring. When I saw a recipe for baked risotto in Donna Hay’s issue 33, I had to give it a try. After all, I’d be willing to make a few texture-related trade-offs if it meant I could throw Arborio rice and chicken stock in the oven and end up with ready to eat risotto 40 minutes later. The recipe did not disappoint. I’ve gone from making risotto, well, almost never, to having it as a side dish fairly frequently. DH suggests a number of flavor combinations: pancetta, sweet potato and sage, prawn artichoke and lemon, and spinach feta and pine nuts to name a few. The possibilities are endless: the only thing to decide when adding ingredients is whether the add-ins need to be precooked, cooked along with the risotto, or stirred in afterwards.

My favorite is an adaptation of her mixed mushroom risotto. I’ve discovered a new ingredient which makes the risotto outstanding: truffle salt! You can certainly make it with regular sea salt but the truffle salt adds another dimension and is worth the splurge!

Mixed mushroom and pea baked risotto (adapted from Donna Hay Magazine, issue 33)

10g unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
300 g mixed mushrooms (I like button mushrooms, shitakes, and brown mushrooms) – quarter some and slice some to vary the texture
1 ½ cups Arborio rice
4-4 ½ cups chicken stock
1 cup sweet peas (defrosted if frozen, blanched if fresh)
1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
2 T coarsely chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
40 g unsalted butter to add at the end
plenty of sea salt and cracked black pepper
truffle salt

Preheat oven to 355°F

Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the butter, oil, garlic, and mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes or until mushrooms are golden (add in the parsley after the first few minutes).

Place the rice, stock, and mushroom mixture in an 8.5 x 12 in (10 cup capacity) baking dish and stir to combine. Sprinkle generously with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper. If using, sprinkle with truffle salt. (note: Donna Hay shows her baked risotto with slightly more liquid than I prefer. I have been using 4 cups vs. her recommended 4.5 cups of chicken stock: adjust to your preference. The amount of liquid required will also very based on your add-ins).

Cover tightly with foil and baked for ~40 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Remove from oven, stir in peas, parmesan and second quantity of butter. Taste and adjust seasonings (you will likely want to add an additional generous amount of sea salt/truffle salt and pepper). Serve immediately.

Back to basics (sort of): a great green salad

I’m taking us back to basics today.

This was one of the first recipes I shared when I started blogging and it’s still one that I use all the time. It’s the secret to a wonderful green salad, and it features one of my three favorite go-to homemade salad dressings.

Sure, most of the time I just drizzle a little olive oil and vinegar on my salad. I add a little lemon juice if I have it. That’s it. And that’s pretty good.

But, I discovered a little trick that only adds one more step and turns a typical salad dressing into a fabulous one: shallots.

A couple of years a go, Saveur printed an article on David Tanis and Randal Breski and shared a few of their recipes. David Tanis and his partner, Randal, operate an occasional “dinner club” in Paris in their 17th century apartment called Aux Chiens Lunatiques (''At the Crazy Dogs' Place''). It’s occasional, because they run the club for six months out of the year, and during the other six months, the pair re-locate to Berkeley California, where Tanis is the head chef at Chez Panisse. What a gig! (you can read more about them in a New York Times article here)

I love the idea of an occasional restaurant in someone’s home (no less at the Parisian outpost of a well-respected chef!) and the dream of the interesting and eclectic fellow diners one might find. When my husband and I were last in Paris I attempted to reserve at Aux Chiens Lunatiques only to find that I had hit the wrong six months. Needless to say, I will try to plan better next time!

Back to recipe. There are a few tips Tanis shared for a great green salad:

1. Wash the greens by gently swishing them in a baisin filled with cold water
2. Drain them and then dry them by gently rolling them in a clean dish towel. Tanis says salad spinners damage tender greens (which I've noticed too).
3. Don’t forget to season the greens with salt and pepper
4. After dressing, toss the salad gently (he recommends using your hands)

The secret to the vinaigrette is the chemical reaction that occurs between the vinegar, shallots and salt. It produces a very flavorful vinegary, tangy dressing that is addictive! Here’s the formula:

Mince one shallot into a tablespoon of vinegar in a bowl, add half a teaspoon of salt and let the mixture steep together for ten minutes. Whisk in about 3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil. Drizzle just enough dressing over the leaves to make the leaves glisten (roughly a tablespoon for five or six cups of greens). Grind some fresh black pepper over greens.

Give it a try . . .

p.s. As an aside, I am the very honored nominee (with two other great bloggers) of the Inspiring Food Photography award for this month. It's a reader-voted award hosted by Coffee and Vanilla. The polls are open now and voting closes at the end of the month. Please check it out and cast your vote!