Cranberry Pumpkin Bread

Cranberry Pumpkin Bread

based on The Joy of Cooking

1.5 c all purpose or white whole wheat flour
2 t ground cinnamon
1 t ground ginger
.5 t freshly ground nutmeg
1 t baking soda
.25 t baking powder
1 t salt

.33 c milk

6 T butter
1 c sugar
.33 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 c pumpkin puree
1 t vanilla extract

2 c fresh cranberries
.5 c toasted pecans

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Grease and flour a 9x5" loaf pan.
Combine and sift your dry ingredients.  In a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugars until fluffy and well combined.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the pumpkin puree and vanilla.  Once mixed, alternately add the dry ingredients and milk, beginning and ending with dry.  Fold in the cranberries and pecans, and transfer to your baking dish.  Bake until a pick inserted in the center comes out clean - about one hour.

Braised Duck Legs : Master Recipe

This year for Thanksgiving dinner my main course was braised duck legs over kale, parsnip puree, and curry beurre blanc with a brunoise of honeycrisp apple.  I want to share this duck leg recipe with you because it never fails and it always a crowd-pleaser (unless your crowd doesn't like duck, and then there's nothing I can do for you!).

Braised Duck Legs

Plan on one duck leg per person.

The night before you plan to serve the duck, trim and rub the legs.  Cut off any extra skin and fat (save these bits and render them out; duck fat is precious), then cut a clean line just below the ankle.  This is purely cosmetic; it allows the muscle and skin to retract in a tidy fashion.  If you're feeling very particular, you can then clean the end of the bone completely of skin. 

Next, rub each leg with a bit of salt and whatever flavorings you'd like.  This time I used some freshly ground curry powder, perhaps 1/2 t per leg.  Other good options are ras al hanout or herbs de provence.  It all depends on the flavor profile you're looking for.

Cover and refrigerate until you are ready to bake, then preheat your oven to 400F. 

In a roasting pan or baking dish, lay roughly chopped vegetables (onion, garlic, carrot, parsnip, celery, etc) about 1" thick.  You won't be eating these vegetables, they are purely to perfume the meat so they should mirror the other flavors on the plate. 

Pour in chicken stock until the vegetables are almost submerged, then lay the duck legs, skin side up, in a single layer.  Cover loosely, and place in the oven.  Immediately turn the heat down to 325F.  Allow to braise until fall off the bone tender - about three hours.

Directly before serving, remove warm legs to a broiler pan, and broil just until the skin is crisp.
 

Quite Possibly the Best Cake Ever

I've always been a fan of raw apple cakes.  My mother made a very tasty one when I was growing up and it was my favorite dessert.  It was even relatively healthy and could easily be made vegan.  It's definitely the best vegan cake I've ever had, and I still use her recipe when I simply need cake but have no eggs.

This, boys and girls, is not her recipe...  While hers is just as good, this one is loaded with butter and simply irresistible.  It is not vegan, and it is not healthy; I figure this is the uptown version of the down-home cake of my childhood.

The following recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan.  For those of you who don't know, she's a food writer and cookbook author who splits her time between the States and France.  Her recipes are reliable, approachable, and a great way to expand your baking prowess without having to break the bank on specialty ingredients.  The only changes I make are to cut the apples smaller and use brandy instead of rum.  Enjoy!

Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake 

¾ cup all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
4 large apples (if you can, choose 4 different kinds)
2 large eggs
¾ cup sugar
3 tablespoons dark rum
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter an 8-inch springform pan and put it on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in small bowl.

Peel the apples, cut them in half and remove the cores. Cut the apples into 1- to 2-inch chunks.

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk until they’re foamy. Pour in the sugar and whisk for a minute or so to blend. Whisk in the rum and vanilla. Whisk in half the flour and when it is incorporated, add half the melted butter, followed by the rest of the flour and the remaining butter, mixing gently after each addition so that you have a smooth, rather thick batter. Switch to a rubber spatula and fold in the apples, turning the fruit so that it’s coated with batter. Scrape the mix into the pan and poke it around a little with the spatula so that it’s evenish.

Slide the pan into the oven and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top of the cake is golden brown and a knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean; the cake may pull away from the sides of the pan. Transfer to a cooling rack and let rest for 5 minutes.

Carefully run a blunt knife around the edges of the cake and remove the sides of the springform pan. (Open the springform slowly, and before it’s fully opened, make sure there aren’t any apples stuck to it.) Allow the cake to cool until it is just slightly warm or at room temperature. If you want to remove the cake from the bottom of the springform pan, wait until the cake is almost cooled, then run a long spatula between the cake and the pan, cover the top of the cake with a piece of parchment or wax paper, and invert it onto a rack. 

Carefully remove the bottom of the pan and turn the cake over onto a serving dish.  Serve with lightly whipped cream if desired.

Reminders of Spring

I always thought of strawberries and rhubarb as quintessential spring flavors- peaking in June and a faded memory by the time summer ends.  Not so for me this year!  Here it is, approaching mid-September, and my strawberry patch has produced a goodly amount of fruit, and my friend's rhubarb plant needs thinning...

To bring these two ingredients together with a seasonally appropriate flavor profile, I decided to make a crisp (you know, crisp like a fall day etc).  I made the streusel with brown sugar, flour, blanched almonds (ground coursely), and some powdered ginger to give a little zing.

I'm going to refrain from posting a proper recipe because, to be honest, I estimated everything.  But, I will suggest a few ideas that will help keep your next crisp, well, crisp:

- choose your thickener wisely; flour takes longer to thicken and loose it's starchy flavor than refined starches (such as corn or potato) do, and the faster you can secure your liquid, the less soggy your topping will be.
- if you're using a high moisture item (like rhubarb), think about macerating it with some of the sugar for about an hour, then draining off some of the excess liquid.
- consider baking your fruit mixture for about twenty minutes before adding the topping; this will reduce the overall moisture content in the filling.
- make sure to use enough topping to make a rather thick layer; there will always be a soggy bit right next to the fruit, so if you want any crunchy bits, you have to put quite a bit