Marzipan Loaf Cake

  

Seasonal Recipe of the Week
There is something about certain food words that make them extra special. I have gone on for years about how much sexier tangerine is than orange. Drizzle is way more upscale than drip. There is nothing I can do with foam, but put a a savory marmalade on my plate and I am in. I feel this way about marzipan, much cooler than almond paste.

Which brings me to the cake I just pulled from the oven. I was wandering about LIDL, my local weird supermarket which I have a love/hate relationship with. They are a European chain and often have unusual products littered randomly throughout the store. Things I don't really think anyone on Long Island wants or needs, like pickled Greek Octopus salad (rubbery and inedible) to the bar of marzipan I found today which was 40% off, a leftover from Christmas. Fortunately this stuff is almost indestructible.

Recently I had read a Nigella recipe for a marzipan loaf which sounded like it needed trying. Here it is, unchanged from original, though now I'm thinking adding chocolate chips would be divine!

Note: this is a British recipe so it's in grams, get out those scales!

Ingredients
150 grams marzipan
125 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
50 grams granulated sugar
75 grams all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
3 large eggs, room temperature

Procedure
Heat oven to 325. Spray and line a loaf pan with parchment and spray parchment.

Tear up the marzipan into small pieces and put in food processor, then add everything else and run till batter is smooth. Stop twice to scape down sides of the bowl. Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes, or until the top is golden, it springs back, and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Freezes well.

Quince Cardamom Ice Cream, Apple Calvados Sorbet, and Espresso Crunch Ice Cream

Seasonal recipe of the Week
Just because winter is knocking at our door doesn't mean we need to give up making and eating yummy frozen desserts! It is the perfect time to look at a new palate of seasonal flavors and ingredients and come up with some cool (pun intended) new treats. I think winter flavors are underused in frozen desserts — has anyone out there had pumpkin pie ice cream?

Here are three new recipes I have been enjoying.

Quince Cardamom Ice Cream

Ingredients
1 large quince
1 bay leaf
1 cup cream
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground cardamom
1 cup milk
1/2 a vanilla pod, split
5 egg yolks
1 cup sugar, divided

Procedure
Peel, seed, and quarter the quince and then place it into a saucepan with the bay leaf, three tablespoons of the sugar and enough water to cover. Bring to the boil, then lower to a simmer and cook, covered, for 30 minutes until the quince is soft — at high altitude this might take longer. When quince is fully cooked, it turns pink! Make sure the fruit is tender, or else you will not get a smooth purée. Drain the quince, toss the bay leaf, then purée the fruit in a food processor. Set aside to cool while you make your custard for the ice cream. In a heavy based pot, heat the milk and cream with the vanilla pod and cardamom until just starting to simmer. Remove from the heat a moment. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until lightly frothy. Whisk in the warm milk mixture, a little at a time. Return the mix to the saucepan and heat at just below simmering for about ten minutes, stirring constantly. The mixture should start to thicken. When it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, remove from the heat and pour into a mixing bowl to cool. Mix in the quince purée. Stir for a few minutes then refrigerate until cold. Pour into your ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s instructions. Garnish with some caramelized quince slices.

Apple Calvados Sorbet

Ingredients
2 cup peeled, chopped tart apple (2 large Granny Smiths)
3 cups water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 cup Calvados, or apple brandy

Procedure
In medium saucepan over medium heat, bring the chopped apple, water, and sugar to a simmer. Cover the pan, lower the heat slightly, and cook for about 20 minutes, until the apples are very tender. Remove from the heat, and purée mixture in food processor and then cool the mixture to room temperature. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, and Calvados, and stir the mixture thoroughly. Chill it until very cold, about 2 hours. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Espresso Crunch Ice Cream

Ingredients
3 cups half-and-half
6 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
Pinch salt
2 1/2 tablespoons ground espresso coffee beans
1 tablespoon coffee liqueur (Kahlua)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate-covered espresso beans, chopped (Trader Joe's always has them)

Procedure
Heat the half-and-half in a sauce pan until it forms bubbles around the edge of the pan and steam starts to rise. In a small bowl, combine the egg yolks, sugar, and salt and mix well. Slowly add the hot half-and-half to the egg mix to avoid curdling the eggs and then add mixture back to the pot. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for 5 to 10 minutes, until it's thickened and the cream coats the back of a spoon. Pour the cream through a fine-meshed sieve into a bowl. Add the ground espresso beans, coffee liqueur, and vanilla and refrigerate until completely chilled. Pour the espresso cream into an ice-cream freezer and freeze according to the manufacturer's directions. When mixture is thick and almost fully churned add the chopped espresso beans. Put in freezer a few hours to firm up.

Cardamon Coffee Cake

The Altitude Adjustment Section
I love a good coffee cake, don’t you? And I especially love a yeast-based sweet cake which walks the line between bread and cake. Here is an oldie but a goodie, flavored with cardamon, from one of the first cookbooks I ever used — The Sunset Cookbook of Breads, first published in 1966.

Ingredients
1 package of active dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cardamon
1 cup scalded milk, cooled to lukewarm
4 eggs
4 cups A.P. flour
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled

Procedure
Dissolve yeast in warm water in the bowl of your electric mixer. Let it develop for 10 minutes till foamy. Now add the salt sugar, cardamon, milk, eggs, and beat till blended. Add flour gradually to yeast mixture. Beat at low speed till batter is smooth. Next add the butter and mix till blended. Butter a large 10 cup baking mold or 2 small molds and sprinkle with granulated sugar covering all surfaces, tap out extra. You have two baking options- for an airy coarsely textured coffee cake turn the batter immediately into the prepared pan and let rise till it reaches 1/4 inch from the top of the pan which will take about 1 1/2 hours. Bake in a preheated 350 oven for about 60-70 minutes in a tubeless mold or 40-50 minutes in a ring mold.If you want a finer texture, let the dough rise in the mixing bowl till double about 2 hours, then beat down and turn into prepared mold and then let rise again and bake same as above.You can also add raisins, dried cranberries, cinnamon, chopped nuts, you get the idea.

Cardamom

Excellent Ingredient of the Week
Cardamom has a strong, unique taste, with an intense fragrance. Black cardamom has a distinctly more smokey, though not bitter, aroma with a coolness some consider similar to mint. Green cardamom is one of the most expensive spices by weight, but little is needed to impart the flavor. Cardamom is best stored in pod form because once the seeds are exposed or ground they quickly lose their flavor. However, high-quality ground cardamom is often more readily (and cheaply) available and is an acceptable substitute. For recipes requiring whole cardamom pods, a generally accepted equivalent is 10 pods equals 1 1/2 teaspoons of ground cardamom.

It is a common ingredient in Indian cooking and is often used in baking in Nordic countries, such as in sweet breads. In the Middle East, green cardamom powder is used as a spice for sweet dishes as well as traditional flavoring in coffee and tea. Cardamom pods are ground together with coffee beans to produce a powdered mixture of the two, which is boiled with water to make coffee. Cardamom is used in some extent in savory dishes. It is occasionally used as a garnish in basmati rice and other dishes. It is often referred to as fat cardamom due to its size. Individual seeds are sometimes chewed and used in much the same way as chewing gum; it is even used by Wrigley's ('Eclipse Breeze Exotic Mint') where it states "with cardamom to neutralize the toughest breath odors." It has been known to be used for gin making.

Green cardamom is broadly used in South Asia to treat infections in teeth and gums, to prevent and treat throat troubles, congestion of the lungs and pulmonary tuberculosis, inflammation of eyelids and also digestive disorders. It also is used to break up kidney stones and gall stones, and was reportedly used as an antidote for both snake and scorpion venom. All that medical stuff is from the internet and so I hold no claim to its validity.

Anyway, let's talk about ways to use it in food. It's great in baking, John Margraff adds it to his apple pie filling. It's great in any kind of spice cake or butter or sugar cookie. It's great in couscous to go with a Moroccan tagine, great with lamb, great in tea. Here are two lovely recipes using cardamom.

Cardamom Rose Meringues

Ingredients
2 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
2/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons rose extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 drop red food coloring (optional)
(Yields 12 meringue cookies)

Procedure
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar together with an electric mixer on high speed until the mixture forms stiff peaks.

Place sugar, water, rose extract, cardamom, salt, and food coloring in a saucepan, and bring to a simmer over low heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Simmer the mixture for a minute or two, stirring constantly, and very slowly pour the syrup in a thin stream into the egg whites, beating constantly with electric mixer on high speed. Beat until the syrup is incorporated and the meringue is stiff and shiny.
Drop by spoonfuls or pipe into rosettes with a star tip onto the prepared baking sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven until the meringues are hard, 1 to 1 1/2 hours; turn off the oven, and allow them to cool inside the oven to finish baking the insides.

Spiced Honey Drink

Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
2 cloves cloves
4 cardamom pods
3 slices fresh ginger (to taste)
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp chopped fresh mint leaves

Procedure
Combine all ingredients with 1 quart water in a saucepan with a lid over medium heat; bring almost to a boil. Cover and turn off heat; steep for 15 to 20 minutes. Strain, then reheat and serve, or refrigerate, covered, and serve cold.

Almond Crust Blueberry Tart with Cardamom-Cream Filling

The Altitude Adjustment Section
This crust is great, easy to assemble, keeps its crunch, but is a little tricky to make. So follow the instructions carefully.

Ingredients for crust
Matzo cake meal
5 ounces sliced almonds toasted
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, beaten to blend
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Ingredients for filling
8 ounces cream cheese, room temp
juice and zest of 1 lime
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
2 cups of blueberries

Procedure
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom with heavy-duty foil, pressing foil into scalloped sides of pan. Grease foil and dust with matzo cake meal. Finely grind almonds, sugar, cinnamon and salt in food processor. Dump into a bowl and with a fork mix in egg a tiny bit at a time. Just use enough egg to stick the crumbs together. Too much egg will give you a mucky crust which will not set and get crunchy. Next add the extract and mix in. Using moistened fingertips, press dough over bottom and up sides of prepared pan. Bake crust 10 minutes. Wrap fingertips with paper towels and gently, but quickly, press puffed crust to original shape. Continue to bake crust until pale golden, about 3 minutes longer. Again, gently press crust to original shape. Cool crust completely (crust will crisp as it cools). Turn crust out of pan and carefully peel off foil. Place on flat plate. Tart shell can be prepared 3 days ahead.

For the filling, whip the cream cheese with the lime juice and zest, cardamom, and confectioners sugar. To assemble, brush top of crust with white chocolate to keep it crispy. Tube cream cheese on top and then pile on the blueberries (toss with a little melted jam first to help them stick together). Refrigerate uncovered until ready to serve.

Guests the Meehans: Weird Food Traditions

Seasonal Recipes of the Week
Yes, the things your family eats — specially for the holidays — do seem strange to everyone else! Monica and Bram Meehan and Bram's parents Jim and Marsha Meehan share some favorites. Feel free to add your family food traditions to the comments below!

Lee's Salad

Jim's aunt Lee always made this "salad" for family events, and always served it in the same cut-glass bowl.

Ingredients
1 16-ounce can of fruit salad
1 11-ounce can of Mandarin orange segments
1 16-ounce container of cottage cheese
1 small package of Jell-O (your favorite flavor)
8-9 ounces of Cool Whip, thawed

Procedure
Drain fruit well. Make Jell-O with 1 cup water or juice from fruit. Let Jell-O cool. Add fruit and cottage cheese to Jell-O and mix well. Fold in Cool Whip. Pour into serving bowl and chill several hours.

Cardamom rolls

Marsha fell in love with the bread that her childhood friend's grandmother made every Saturday. Here's the recipe as she adapted it for to serve on Christmas morning. (Note: this is not altitude-adjusted.)

Ingredients
1 16-ounce package hot roll mix
1 cup hot milk (120 to 130 degrees)
2 tablespoons margarine or butter, softened
2 teaspoons cardamom
1 egg
32 raisins
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons coarse sugar

Procedure
In large bowl, combine flour mixture with yeast from foil packet; mix well. Stir in hot milk, margarine, cardamom and 1 egg until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. With greased or floured hands, shape dough into a ball. Knead dough 5 minutes or until smooth. Cover dough with large bowl; let rest 5 minutes.

Grease cookie sheets. Divide dough into 16 equal pieces. Roll each piece into 8-inch rope. Shape each rope into an "S" shape; place on greased cookie sheets. Cover loosely with greased plastic wrap and cloth towel. Let rise in warm place for 20 to 30 minutes or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 375. Uncover dough. Press one raisin in both curls of each roll. Brush with beaten egg; sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake at for 12 to 17 minutes or until golden brown.

Herring Salad

This German salad was traditional in Monica's family for New Year's Eve.

Ingredients
24 ounces Vita brand pickled herring in wine sauce, cut into half-inch dice
2 cooked pork chops, trimmed of fat and cut into half-inch dice
4 15-ounce cans sliced beets, drained and cut into half-inch dice
2 medium cooked potatoes, cut into half-inch dice
4 McIntosh apples, cored, peeled, and cut into half-inch dice
several German-style dill pickles, cut into half-inch dice
(enough to equal the amount of diced apples)

Optional ingredients
onions from the pickled herring jar, cut into half-inch dice
1 cooked celery root, trimmed, cut into half-inch dice (reserve cooking liquid)
capers to taste
mayonnaise to taste

Procedure
Gently combine all ingredients in a BIG bowl. If mixed ingredients seem too dry, use some pickle and/or herring jar brine (or mayonnaise or the cooking water from the celery root) to taste. You'll usually want to add about 1/2 to 1 cup of liquid. Refrigerate for one day before eating... if you can wait! Garnish with hard boiled eggs and/or parsley sprigs at the table.

Salad will keep about 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Ziploc freezer bags work well for storage.

Cardamom Yogurt Pudding with Orange and Cinnamon Honey Syrup

The Altitude Adjustment Section
Sometimes a simple pudding is all you need. Garnish with your choice of fresh fruit.

Ingredients
2 cups plain, full-fat Greek yogurt
6 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 teaspoons water
2 teaspoons rose or orange blossom water
2 teaspoons powdered gelatin powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom (available at Ziggy’s)
4 navel orange
4 tablespoon mild honey (preferably orange blossom)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Procedure
Whisk together yogurt, sugar, and vanilla in a small bowl until sugar is dissolved. Put water in a saucepan, then sprinkle gelatin and cardamom evenly over water. Let stand 1 minute to soften. Heat mixture over low heat, stirring, until gelatin is dissolved, about 30 seconds. Whisk hot gelatin into yogurt until combined well. Pour yogurt into 4 ounce ramekins and chill, covered, until set, about 1 1/2 hours.

While yogurt is chilling, cut peel and white pith from 2 orange with a sharp knife. Working over a small bowl, cut segments free from membranes from half of orange, letting segments fall into bowl, then squeeze the juice from the other 2 oranges. Bring orange juice, honey, and cinnamon to a simmer in cleaned very small saucepan, stirring, and then simmer until reduced by 1/2. Add orange segments to syrup, gently stirring to coat. Cool to room temperature, about 10 minutes. Spoon syrup over pudding and arrange orange on top. You can also turn puddings out of ramekins onto a plate and serve that way.

Prune and Cardamom Scones

The Altitude Adjustment Section
As you know, I am a fan of the scone and so I went back to one of Susan Purdy’s tried and true recipes from her fabulous high altitude cookbook Pie in the Sky, and added some new ingredients to make it festive for the holiday season. Here is a recipe for Prune (or dried plums if the word Prune scares you) and Cardamom Scones, the aroma will kill you!

Ingredients
1 cup diced pitted prunes (easy to cut up with lightly oiled scissors)
2 cups A.P. flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground Cardamom
7 tablespoons cold butter cut up
1 large room temp egg
3/4 cup whole milk

Procedure
Preheat oven to 425. Measure the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and cardamom into the bowl of your food processor, fitted with the steel blade. Add the cut up butter and pulse till mixture resembles small crumbs. Dump out mixture into a bowl. Add the prunes and toss to coat so they don’t sink. In a small bowl, combine the egg and milk. Make a well in the center of dry mixture and add liquids. Stir everything together with a fork just till dough comes together. It will be sticky — don’t panic!

With floured fingers, pull off 8 lumps of dough each about 2 x 2 1/2 inches and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet lined with parchment. You can leave the dough round or pat into wedge shapes. Brush top of each scone with a little milk and sprinkle with some sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes. When done they will turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. Call me when they are done!