Olive Oil and Ricotta Cake with Blueberry Marsala Coulis

I remember the first time I had olive oil cake, at the White Dog Café in Philly (back when it was owned by Judy Wicks), and thinking that it sounded absolutely awful, and that there was no possible way that olive oil could be in a dessert. The moment I bit into my piece, I immediately took back my previous sentiment. It was light, fluffy, and avoided being cloyingly sweet – a great dessert for people who aren’t big on desserts. I’ve always meant to make an olive oil cake myself, but had never gotten around to it. Recently, however, I picked up the new Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, and saw this recipe for olive oil and ricotta cake and decided to give it a go.  The recipe for the cake itself is straight out of the book, the sauce is my own adaptation.

Olive Oil and Ricotta Cake:

1 Cup Ricotta/Famers Cheese (recipe follows)

1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 cup sugar

½ teaspoon lemon zest

2 large eggs

1.5 cups all-purpose flour

1.5 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

Butter and Flour for the pan

Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Blueberry Coulis:

1 heaped cup of blueberries

3 TBSP Sweet Marsala

1 TBSP Lemon Juice

2 TBSP Sugar

¼ cup water

Pinch of salt

Ricotta/Farmers Cheese

½ Gallon Milk (don’t use ultra-pasteurized – it won’t curdle correctly)

1 cup heavy cream

½ teaspoon salt

3 TBSP white vinegar

Add the milk, cream, and salt to a large pot, and bring up to a near boil (200°F if you want to be exact about it) over medium-high heat. Add in the vinegar while stirring, until the liquid begins to curdle. Drop the heat to low and simmer for two additional minutes, stirring. Strain the mixture into a strainer lined with cheese cloth. Bundle up the cheese cloth and tie some twine around the cloth. Hang the cheese above your sink, or in the refrigerator suspended over a bowl for one hour. Don’t squeeze the cheese, just let gravity do its thing. The cheese can then be refrigerated for up to two days. Yields 2 cups.

Oh you know, just hanging out

For the Cake:

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Add ricotta, olive oil, sugar, and lemon zest into a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking to combine. Sift the flour in top of the mixture, and add the baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Bring the mixture together with a spoon until just combined. Butter and flour a 9” springform pan (I used a 9.5” pie dish) and transfer the mixture into the pan. Bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

For the coulis:

Add everything into a small sauce pan, and bring to a simmer. Let simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and use an immersion blender to liquefy, being careful not to splatter blueberry juice everywhere. Simmer for about 5 more minutes, until the liquid is reduced to the consistency you would like.

Awwwww sheeeeeit, it's Pacman

Churros with Chocolate Dipping Sauce

I followed http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/10/dulces-churros-with-chocolate-dulce-de-leche-recipe.html verbatim, so I won’t reprint the whole thing here. Well, I left out the dulce de leche, but that’s minor. 

I was afraid when I tasted the milk mixture that there was too much nutmeg, but it really blends into the background of the finished product. The most difficult part of this process is transferring the dough from the mixing bowl to the pastry bag (and subsequently washing said bowl). I’ve never had churros before, so I don’t have a point of comparison, but I was watching the Cooking Channel’s “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” (or was it “The Cheapest Show We’ve Ever Produced”?), and they had a segment on Rick Bayless’s XOCO where they talked about the churros there. One of the chefs mentioned that the creaminess on the inside was from undercooked dough – mine turned out the same way, so go me. Here’s some more pictures: 

Black Bean and Quinoa Burgers with Chipotle "Aioli"

There’s a plotline in Parks and Recreation where health-nut Chris Traeger challenges meat-enthusiast Ron Swanson to a burger cook-off. Chris makes this whole elaborate portabello mushroom burger, with various gourmet accompaniments. All the judges gush over how great it is, while Ron looks on with a bemused look on his face. When it’s Ron’s turn, he puts a plain beef patty on a bun and serves it. The judges (and Chris) unanimously agree that Ron wins.

This is my usual take on vegetarian versions of meat dishes, so when I do cook something vegetarian, it’s purely coincidence (ie, gazpacho). Well this week’s theme is vegetarian, so I thought I’d give meatlessness a fair shake. The burgers had a tendency to fall apart (I didn’t refrigerate them  before cooking; maybe I should have), but tasted absolutely great. Like, ‘who needs meat?’ level of great.

I didn’t have any eggs, so instead of making an actual aioli, I made a facsimile with yogurt. I was all proud of myself, thinking that I managed to make this meal completely vegan, all the way until halfway through eating when I remembered where yogurt comes from. Seriously, how do vegans do it? Seems like a royal PITA to have to cook with those restrictions. Anyway, I adapted this recipe: http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/black-bean-quinoa-burgers/

Burgers:

½ cup uncooked quinoa

1 cup vegetable stock

½ medium onion, roughly diced (about 1 cup)

2 cloves garlic, diced

1 fifteen ounce can black beans (1.5 cups)

1.5 cups water

¾ tsp smoked paprika

½ teaspoon oregano

½ teaspoon cumin

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Tomato slices

Cilantor

Avocado Slices

4 kaiser rolls

Chipotle “Aioli”:

2 tbsp crema

½ cup greek yogurt

1 chipotle pepper in adobo, chopped

2 teaspoons lime juice

1 teaspoon garlic, diced

Salt

For the burgers:

Rinse the quinoa under cold water, and bring the vegetable stock to a boil in a pot. Add the quinoa, season with salt, and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes, until the grains have little spirals on them. You should have 1.5 cups cooked quinoa. Set aside.

In a pan, add some olive oil and sweat the onions for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook for another minute. Add ¾ cup black beans (half the can), the water, and the paprika/oregano/cumin/salt and pepper. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until most of the water is evaporated. Pour the mixture into a blender or food processor.

Add ¾ cup of the cooked quinoa (half) to the blender. Process until smooth. Place the puree, the remaining quinoa, and black beans to a bowl along with the mustard and Worcestershire. Mix, and form into 4 to 6 patties, depending on how large you want them. At this point it couldn’t hurt to toss them in the fridge (covered with plastic wrap) to let them firm up a bit.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Put a sheet of parchment on a baking sheet, and place the patties on top. Bake for 20 minutes, flip, then cook for 10 minutes more. Toast your buns (to the buns!), and serve with tomato and avocado slices, chipotle aioli, and cilantro.

Chiptole “Aioli”:

Chop garlic and chipotle, add to a small food processor and pulse a few times. Add the yogurt, crema, and lime juice, and process until smooth. Taste, and season with salt if you think you need it. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Roasted Cornish Game Hens with Pomegranate and Sage

This recipe comes from one of Mario Batali’s cookbooks that I was paging through over the summer . I can’t recall the name of it, but I did manage to take a picture of this recipe to work off of.  The original recipe calls for orange zest instead of lemon zest, but I couldn’t find any decent oranges. Also it calls for 6 game hens, which seems like quite a lot. I made it with two, though you could probably add a third without any hassle. I had to cook the birds for about ten minutes longer than the recipe calls for, probably due to the hens not being 100% defrosted when I started. The recipe below contains the cooking times as written.

Ingredients:

2 or 3 cornish game hens

Seeds of 1 large pomegranate

1 cup sweet marsala

1 tablespoon fresh mint

6 cornish game hens

8 tablespoons butter (divided)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

8 fresh sage leaves

Zest of ½ lemon

Method:

In a bowl, cover the pomegranate seeds with the marsala. Mix in the chopped mint. Cover, and let sit for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Remove the wishbone from each of the hens (optional, but it makes it easier to split them in half when serving), and season with salt and pepper, including inside the cavity. Drain the pomegranate seeds, reserving the marsala for later. Stuff the cavities with half the pomegranate seeds, reserving the rest. Truss the birds with kitchen twine.

Heat a large oven-proof skillet over medium high. Add 2 tablespoons of butter, and the 2 tablespoons of olive oil, then toss in 2 of the sage leaves for about 30 seconds. Place the birds in the pan, browning on all sides (should take about 7 minutes altogether). Add the remaining pomegranate seeds and sage leaves to the pan.

Transfer the skillet to the oven, and roast for 7 minutes. Remove the pan, and drizzle on ¼ cup of the reserved marsala, dot the birds with 2 tbsp butter, and baste on some of the pan juices. Return the pan to the oven for another 10 minutes, or until the juices in the bird’s thigh run clear.

While the birds are cooking, slice the lemon zest into ¼” strips. Heat a small saucepan with 2 tablespoons of water in it, and whisk in the remaining butter 1 tablespoon at a time to emulsify. Add the lemon zest. Keep the mixture warm until ready to serve.

To serve the birds, split them in half down the middle, spoon on some of the pan juices and pomegranate seeds over top. Serve with roasted potatoes and vegetables, and spoon some of the butter sauce over everything.

Crespelle Bolognese

This recipe comes from Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, with some tweaks.  This is basically lasagna Bolognese, but with crespelle (aka crepes) in place of pasta. Or if you prefer, Italian enchiladas.

Bolognese

¾ pound ground beef

1 large carrot, diced

½ onion, diced

1 medium leek, cleaned and chopped

1 cup milk

1 cup dry white wine

1 28 oz can tomatoes (3 cups)

Salt

Pepper

1/8 teaspoon Nutmeg

In a dutch oven over medium heat, cook the carrot for 2 minutes, add the onion, cook for 2 minutes more, add the leek, and cook for 5 minutes or so, until the onions are translucent and the carrots softened. Add the beef, and cook until the meat is no longer pink, stirring to incorporate everything. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the cup of milk, and grate the nutmeg into the sauce. Cook until the milk is fully evaporated. Add the wine, cooking until all the liquid evaporates again. Add the tomatoes, and cook the sauce on a light simmer for 2.5 to 3 hours.

Crespelle:

1 cup milk

¾ cup flour

2 eggs

1/8 teaspoon of salt

Put the milk in a bowl, and sift in the flour, whisking to remove any lumps in the mixture. Beat the 2 eggs in a separate bowl, then whisk to incorporate. Season with salt. Place the bowl in the fridge for an hour. When you’re ready to cook the crespelle, put a non-stick pan over medium heat, and coat with non-stick spray (or use butter). Ladle between 1/8 and ¼ cup of the batter into the center of the pan, swirling to spread the batter in a circle. Cook for about 45 seconds/side, until they start to get some color on them.

Bechamel:

1.5 cups milk

2 tbsp butter

1.5 tbsp flour

Salt

Pepper

Nutmeg

Heat the milk to almost boiling in a saucepan. In a different pan, melt the butter and add the flour, whisking constantly. Cook for 2 minutes, until the roux gets some color on it. Add the hot milk, 2 tbsp at a time, whisking to incorporate. When about ½ cup of the milk had been added, go ahead and add the rest. Keep whisking. Cook for a few minutes until the béchamel reaches the desired consistency – in this case, about as thick as sour cream.

Assembly:

Place a spoon full of Bolognese in a crepe, and roll it up like a burrito. Spoon the béchamel over the crespelle, then top with grated parmesan. Position your oven rack on the upper third of the oven, and cook at 350°F for 10 to 15 minutes (to warm through – mine was in the fridge beforehand, so it took closer to 15 minutes), then turn on the broiler and cook for about 2 minutes, until the top starts to brown.