This is a variation from the basic Chocolate-Olive-oil-almond-and-ginger Cake to which I have added a middle layer of cream, and some sour cherries.
I doubled the recipe, making a round, simply decorated cake, and a log, for Marianna and Leonida Allamani’s 16th birthday.
See the BASIC RECIPE to make the cake and the chocolate Glaze. (more…)
I have never tried to make carrot jam, as the ones I have tasted were sickly sweet, lacking any aroma or distinctive tang. But I was intrigued by the ‘Carrot Cake Marmalade,’ at Food & Wine. The recipe originated from “ Molly’s Rise and Shine in New Orleans, where diners rave about the yogurt bowl served topped with marmalade,” as the recipe’s intro states.
I liked the idea of adding warm spices, but increased the number of other fruits –oranges, apples, and particularly lemons—which beautifully complement the carrots’ one-dimensional sweetness. Also, I didn’t over-process the fruit to get a very smooth jam, as the recipe suggests.
My carrot jam is somewhat tart, much closer to my most favorite citrus-fruit marmalades. But you can add more honey or sugar to make it sweeter, as most people probably would prefer it…
Serve with creamy, thick yogurt, with fresh cheese –like myzithra or ricotta– or with the very creamy manouri cheese. I also like to spread it on slices of my Orange, Lemon or Tangerine Olive-oil Cake.
At Molly’s Rise and Shine in New Orleans their very smooth carrot jam is served with granola and yogurt, topped with orange segments and blackberries.
Makes about 2.2 quarts (liters) (more…)
I whipped up this fast and quite delicious dessert using the last nectarines of the year. But you can also use apples, instead.
I caramelized some sugar, then laid the peach or apple segments on it and cooked for a few minutes, before covering with two layers of pastry and baking.
I bought quite a few nectarines the other day, as we at end of October, far beyond peach season. Although they looked unripe, when cut, their flesh was overripe, almost rotten around the stone –probably because they were refrigerated for far too long.
Since they were not good to enjoy as part of my morning fruit-plate, I thought of using them to make an upside-down tart, using frozen, store-bought puff pastry as the crust.
I have had quite a lot of misses in the past trying to bake upside-down fruit tarts, but this time I used my new, very light, aluminum, non-stick Neoflam skillet which made it so easy to bake and invert the tart perfectly, for the very first time…
Serves 8-12 (more…)
The frozen pomegranate juice produced on Kea had inspired me to make a granita/sorbet adding syrup scented with the rose geranium leaves from our garden.
The other day I came upon a couple of small jars of Rose Petal Jam that I had made a few seasons ago, and totally forgot.
Tasting them I found that they were still nicely fragrant, although their color had darkened somewhat. ‘Why don’t I use them, together with pomegranate juice, to make a rose-scented granita,’ I thought, and so this one was created.
You may need to add some good quality rose water, depending on the fragrance of the rose petal jam you use.
Our friends and guests loved this very fragrant granita, so here is my very simple basic recipe. You can adapt it depending on how sweet or tangy you prefer your desserts.
Serves 8-12 (more…)
This simple, wonderful Turkish treat is called kabak tatlisi, and is a favorite dessert served in all kinds of restaurants and taverns.
Paula Wolfert, in her wonderful book The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen, explains her most ingenious, simple way of making it perfect! All you need is time to bake the squash slowly. Use your phone timer if you have not an automatic oven that you can set it bake the squash for 1 ½ to 2 hours.
In my recipe below I have reduced the amount of sugar, as I find that butternut squash is by itself very sweet!
We like to serve it with mastic or vanilla ice cream sometimes adding the walnuts that Paula suggests sautéing in butter, something I don’t usually do.
In Turkey this baked squash is usually served with kaimak (clotted buffalo cream).
See also the elaborate Greek Squash or Pumpkin Preserves (rossoli).
Serves 4
1 pound (500 gram) peeled butternut squash, cut into about 1-inch (2.5 cm) pieces
2/3 cup superfine or baker’s sugar
Optional accompaniments:
About ½ cup toasted walnuts
1 cup crème fraîche, or thick yogurt, or ice cream
Mix the squash pieces with the sugar in a shallow glass or ceramic baking dish and let stand for at least 30 minutes, or until the squash weeps and the sugar melts.
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150 C). Use your fingers or a wooden spoon to mix the squash and sugar. Cover with a crumpled sheet of wet parchment paper, place in the oven, and bake for 1½ hours, or more, until the juices boil and the squash is tender.
Turn off the oven and leave the dish inside until completely cool. (The squash will continue to re-absorb their syrupy juices.)
Store in a cool place or in the refrigerator. Let return to room temperature before serving. If you like, sprinkle with walnut and/or accompany with crème fraiche, thick yogurt, or ice cream.
