The Recipe in My Head

Photo by Matt Korahais.

There's an essay in Mouth Wide Open where John Thorne talks about seeing a recipe printed on the back of a pasta box as "a dish wildly signalling me from the other side, begging to be let out," rather than "instructions for making a dish." I feel like somehow that's the way I approached this week's Tuesdays with Dorie cake, which was supposed to be an apple coconut cake but somehow wound up a cranberry chestnut cake. It was less of my usual substitution and more of the process described above for one reason--I went shopping twice with this cake in mind, and both times stubbornly refused to buy apples. And I really like apples and wish I had some in the house right now. But something didn't want this cake to be made as specified.

Photo by Matt Korahais.

 It may be because it has similarities to my favorite yogurt cake, which I frequently make with cranberries. The (local!)chestnuts were leftover from a late batch of stuffing. The cake was good, though probably drier than Dorie was going for.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Flaky Apple Turnovers

Mini apple pies.
These were mini apple pies.
There is nothing wrong with that at all.

Just, were they supposed to be different? I guess they were flaky? I loved eating them. I love apple pie. But flaky apple turnovers does imply something slightly different to me. Maybe it's because I used watery yogurt instead of the sour cream that was supposed to make them so flaky. I'm very interested to see other people's pictures of these.

In the meantime, little apple pies are all right in my book. Although I did think that the crust might have had too much butter.

Tuesdays with Dorie: French Yogurt Cake

The full name of this entry should have been French Yogurt Cake with marmalade glaze, but as I did no such thing, I wouldn't want to deceive you.

I've posted before about this year's addiction to Clothilde's Yogurt Cake. I've made it in Brooklyn and on Cape Cod and would probably have made it in Uganda if I'd stayed there much longer. It's the first thing I made with my swap shop birthday mixer. It's all purpose breakfast and lunch and after-school and dinner and late night cake. Dorie's cake is a variation on the same theme. If I didn't read too many food blogs, how would I know that the French tend to make yogurt cake from the base measurement unit of the yogurt container itself? I would have had to read this recipe, which shares the exact same mystical information. I can never be truly French, it says, my yogurt containers are just not the right size. Luckily, Americans and sympathetic French citizens have saved the day by modifying the recipe, and I love all the permutations of it that I have yet to come up against.

Dorie's version includes a bunch of almond flour in place of some of the flour, which is a very good idea. I used brown sugar and threw a bunch of cranberries on top, which of course in a bundt pan is the bottom, and got a nice little ring. Should have doubled it for a truly handsome cake, as this one was a little small, but no one at rehearsal seemed to mind.
And the glaze? No glaze.

Yogurt-Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Rhubarb Compote

This is the season of fiending for rhubarb. I've been waiting so long. I probably missed some very early stuff on Saturday, but yesterday I was lucky enough to find the last few pounds of a farmer's first cut at Union Square. Just walked off with everything he had. Now it's properly spring. I stewed it with some cinnamon sticks and sugar in a mix of pomegranate juice and iced tea, and poured it over my impulse creation of the day, greek yogurt and buttermilk panna cotta from Serious Eats. The whole thing took about 15 minutes to make, and was perfect. Sort of like yogurt jello. In the best sense.
Here is the recipe, reprinted directly from the post linked above.

Yogurt Panna Cottas with Honey

As printed on www.seriouseats.com, Adapted from Food & Wine magazine

Ingredients

1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
1 tablespoon water
1 cup fat-free milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 cup fat-free plain Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons honey
Red grapes, for serving

Procedure

1. In a small bowl, mix the gelatin with the water and let stand about 5 minutes, until softened. In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a simmer with the sugar and cook until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in the softened gelatin until dissolved.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk the buttermilk with the yogurt until smooth. Whisk in the warm milk mixture. Pour the panna cotta mixture into six 4-ounce ramekins and refrigerate until set, about 3 hours.

3. To serve, drizzle the panna cottas with honey and garnish with the grapes.