SPANISH ALMOND CAKE

Light, fluffy, and oh so simple, this cake would have to be one of my favorite discoveries.

If I was a baking superhero, my one terrible weakness would be my incapacity to bake delicious stuff when I don’t feel like cooking. When such a scene is in play, the viewer usually ends up with some sad hunk of dough, dry and hard, containing too much cardamom. (I usually refrain from the photo and put up with Bastien’s wrath of discontent as we munch woefully away.)

This cake arose out of exactly such a situation, but rather than the sorry excuse for a descent dessert that I usually end up with, we were delighted to sink our teeth into exactly the contrary: a light and airy golden delicious slice of a serious and simple cake; perfect counterpart to a little cup of Italian espresso.

Don’t hesitate to make this cake even if you don’t feel like cooking. You can’t go wrong as long as you know how to separate egg yolks from whites and zest a lemon. It took me 20 minutes to prepare the cake, plus 35-40 minutes of cooking. If you have to grind your own almonds, you might add another 10 minutes to your preparation time.

Recipe for Spanish Almond Cake:

50 g slivered almonds

1 unwaxed organic lemon

170 g almond powder

4 eggs

170 g sugar

1 pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 160°C or 320°F.

Butter a cake pan and stick the almond slivers all over the inside of the pan, including up the sides.

Zest the lemon and slice very finely. In a small bowl, mix the almond powder and lemon zest.

Separate the egg yolks from the whites.

In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until the yolks become almost white in color. Add the almond powder and mix.

In a medium bowl, using a clean whisk, whisk the egg whites with the salt until medium peaks form.

Add half of the egg whites to the almond mixture, stirring just enough to mix. Add the rest of the egg whites to the almond mixture, again, stirring by hand just enough to mix. Your dough should be light and airy. Pour it into your cake pan and bake for 35-40 minutes until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Tags: almond cake, spanish

ALMOND CREAM PUDDING

Bubbly from being whipped, and topped with a freshly picked strawberry

Simple and sweet is the best way to start spring.  Something about the first fruits and vegetables of the season is just so perfect, I hardly want to touch them. Serving them with a simple dessert is the next best thing to chomping them down en solo.

These almond milk ramekins are delicate, delicious, and light. I discovered this recipe in a little book called “30 recettes de verrines” by Sylvie Aït-Ali, who adds morello cherries to each ramekin, making for a lovely presentation. Painless and easy to make, and can be paired with so many things, especially fresh fruit and a sandie cookie, it quickly became one of my favorite desserts. These creamy almond bombs can even pass as a luxurious breakfast.

If you don’t find almond milk at the grocery store, you can probably find it at a health food or organic food shop. In France my favorite brand is Perl’Amande. The ingredients are spring water, 6.5% almonds, rice syrup, corn syrup, agave syrup and salt. It is quite thick and creamy. You could always use regular milk and a tsp of almond extract as well.

6 ramekins of pudding cool before going into the fridge

adapted recipe for almond cream pudding from the book “30 recettes de verrines by Sylvie Aït-Ali

• 500 ml almond milk
• 70 g sugar
• 3 tbsp corn starch
• fruit for adding to the ramekins or serving on the side

In a saucepan using a whisk, mix together the sugar and corn starch. Add the almond milk and heat at medium, stirring often, until the mixture becomes thick. This will only take a few minutes. If you want it to have big bubbles like in my photos, whip with a whisk just after the pudding has thickened.

Pour into 6 ramekins and allow to cool slightly before covering and placing in the fridge.

Enjoy!

Tags: almond milk, cream, pudding, ramekin, spring, strawberries

PIZZA FROM PARIS SUBURBS

My 3rd slice of prosciutto pizza

As an American living in France, I have had many occasions to complain about the pizza here. Thin, poorly garnished, and expensive, minus one exception in Pézenas and two exceptions in the village of Aulnoye-Aymeries, one of which was stolen from my hands as I exited the restaurant. “Bon Appétît!!!” was all I could think of to yell at the hooded hooligan as he disappeared into an alley with my dinner. Needless to say, good pizza is hard to come by.

Though usually Bastien tries to stand up for his nation when I complain about it, he agrees with me on the pizza point, except for a fond memory of lunch in the suburbs of Paris during an internship in 2003… 

He would have lunch a few times a week at a small pizza shop. His order never changed: a cheeseless pizza composed of tomato sauce, prosciutto and cream. The pizza chef would reheat a slice of already cooked pizza with sauce, then top it with a slice of prosciutto and douse the slice in fresh cream. Bastien has evoked this pizza a number of times when thoughts of its fresh aromas would come haunting his memory, and so I tried to recreate it.

To my delight, this is a good pizza idea. I was skeptical about the missing cheese, but the cream makes up for it.

Here is my quick recipe. Homemade tomato sauce is by far better than canned. You can buy canned tomatoes, sprinkle them with sugar, salt, spices, herbs, garlic, cooked onion, cook at a low heat for at least 30 minutes, add a splash of olive oil…mmm!

A quick hint: This pizza is even better the second day. Re-heat the slices minus the prosciutto and cream. When they are warm and crunchy, top with prosciutto and cream.

Recipe for easy peasy pizza from the suburbs of Paris

• pizza dough: I used the recipe for the tarte au maroilles, replacing the butter with olive oil and milk with water
• tomato sauce with spices and herbs
• olive oil
• prosciutto
• heavy cream, crème fraîche, or even sour cream might do it

Tomato sauce: We make our own in the summer by boiling tomatoes and canning or freezing them. To make your own tasty sauce, add some salt, a spoonful of sugar, and any spices that you have… oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, tarragon, and even some coriander, turmeric, or other interesting spices. I even add a sprinkle of mint sometimes.

Heat oven to about 400°F.

Roll out dough into a circle, cover with sauce and sprinkle with olive oil. Bake in the bottom third of the oven for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until the dough looks done.

Slice into triangles, cover each with a thin slice of prosciutto, and add a dash of heavy cream or crème fraîche.

Bon appétît!

Tags: prosciutto pizza

ASPARAGUS ON A BROKEN PLATE

Yesterday, seated on my staircase amidst power tools and insulation, I tasted the first asparagus of the season, with two eggs over easy, parmesan cheese crunchies, and a couple thick slices of wood-oven baked bread on a chipped dinner plate. It was divine.

I welcome spring with insurmountable enthusiasm and a big sigh of relief.  This winter was cold and unsteady.

News of the natural disaster in a country that I love dearly is quite frightening. Luckily my friends are safe, but the situation is devastating. I think often of the generous people I met during my time in Japan, and now hope that everyone is doing his or her best in the face of such trying a situation.

My little house has no heating yet and the tile floors are synonymous with ice cubes. Just as spring began to sprout, and the day after Japan’s tsunami, four days of non-stop rains bombarded my region in the south of France and my very old leaky-roofed house. A part from staining some walls and ceiling, no harm was done.

The first part of our renovation began over a month ago, with the destruction of a very old dividing wall. Bastien and I have since learned about plumbing at midnight, electricity with no flashlight, building flat walls over bendy ones, and small house planning. We have just about made it through the toughest part, but cooking without a kitchen has led to the following casualties: 1 handmade terracotta olive oil bottle, 3 dinner plates, 1 Pyrex dish, 1 flower-pot, 1 watering-pot, and a few glasses. To my delight, the baby fig tree in the flower-pot survived without a scratch.

Though we try very hard not to break things, it happens. Initially startled and disappointed by each crash of ceramic and glass, I can only think of these things as trinkets when compared to what so many people are going through.

Keep those chins high and dry.

Tip for cooking asparagus:

If you haven’t got a special asparagus saucepan, and want a no-hassle solution to evenly cooking it, use a large open frying pan. Fill halfway with water and bring to a boil. Pose the asparagus stalks partially in the water with the tops resting on the side of the frying pan, as if they are in a hot tub. Cook for a minute or two before pushing the stalks the rest of the way into the water and finish boiling for another couple of minutes. Avoid over-cooking, taking them out of the water while they still have that fresh green color.

Tags: asparagus, renovation, spring