Food to Share: Lovely Lemon Madeleines and a Winter Picnic

We haven't had much Winter here in Nashville but lately I've found myself longing for Spring nonetheless. Perhaps it's because the weather hovers in the 50's, teasing me. A picnic on a bleary (thank you Rebekka, that is the perfect word) Sunday was exactly what I needed: to be outside, to relax, to eat delicious food and drink wine with friends. 

I went to Arrington Vineyards to share a picnic with Rebekka and Colleen. We had prosciutto and mozzarella sandwiches, brie and with crackers, and I made lovely lemon madeleines. They're lovely because, well, they're just beautiful to look at. That much is obvious. They're also packed with lots of meyer lemon zest, cornmeal, almond flour and best of all, butter!

Oh, and did I mention that I woke up to this precious face on Sunday morning? My sweet little Pixel, patiently waiting for me to get up and take her to play outside in the fog.







Lovely Lemon Madeleines
makes 18


1/3 cup semolina
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup sugar
1t baking powder
3 large eggs
pinch kosher salt
1 stick (8T) unsalted butter
1T limoncello
1T meyer lemon zest

Preheat oven to 400.
In a small bowl, whisk semolina, almond flour and baking powder together. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, sugar and salt with electric mixer until tripled in volume, about 5 minutes (if you see peaks beginning to form you have gone too far!). Melt butter and let cool slightly. Pour butter and almond extract into egg mixture. Beat until combined. Add zest. Fold dry mix into wet mix with spatula until just combined. Let chill in fridge for one hour. Spoon batter into madeleine mold. Bake for 6-7 minutes at 400, drop oven temperature to 350, and bake for another 4-5 minutes.

Cake is Delicious: Chocolate Orange

Katie is here, Katie is here!

I knew I wanted to be best friends with Katie the first time I met her. We were nine. She had a perm and white jeans and someone told me that her Dad worked for a candy company. It was a no-brainer.

When I think of Katie I think of chocolate. I think about how much we both love it. I think about the tour of Brach & Brock that her Dad, Jerry, gave us on her 13th birthday. I think about one night when we deliriously believed that there were chocolate Easter eggs hidden in her house in March. I could go on and on.

I have already shared with you my opinion that coming home is a perfect occasion for sharing food. Visiting is much the same way.

I visited Katie in Chicago two months ago. My eyes were drawn to one thing upon entering her kitchen: a giant, five pound five KG (12 pound) bar of chocolate that her Jerry had lugged home from Europe. She had waited for me to open it! We left it on the counter with a paring knife all weekend and chiseled off pieces every time we walked by. Of course I wanted to have something equally special waiting for her.

So I made this: chocolate orange upside down cake. It was just the perfect amount of batter because it made one 10 inch cake and two cupcakes. That meant one cupcake for me, hot out of the oven, and one cupcake for her, sitting in my car when she got off the plane.

We had a fantastic weekend that was over all too quickly.

In less than 48 hours we went to the Nashville farmer's market, 12th South Taproom, the downtown art crawl, Manny's House of Pizza, Marche, Hot & Cold and Taco Mamacita.

On Saturday night we threw a party at my house and in classic Hannah-Katie fashion, we ate strawberry ice cream, drank a good deal of wine and promptly fell asleep at 11:30, before the party was even over.

We laughed. A lot. I am worn out, to say the least. I cannot wait for her to come back again.

<-- Katie at Marche.




Chocolate Orange Upside Down Cake
6 T butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 oranges
5oz chocolate (I used 4oz dark, 1oz milk)
1 cup almond flour
1/3 cup honey
4 eggs, divided
1/2 t baking soda
pinch of kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350. Place 2T of butter in 10 inch cake pan to melt while oven warms up. Slice one orange very thin. When butter is melted, sprinkle brown sugar over it and layer orange slices so that they cover the mixture.
Beat egg yolks, almond flour, honey, baking soda and salt in one bowl. Add about 2t of zest from the second orange. Melt the chocolate with the rest of the butter and fold in with spatula.
Beat egg whites until they have at least doubled in size, but not so much that they are forming peaks. Fold egg whites into the rest of the batter. Pour on top of the oranges and bake immediately for about 35 minutes.
* Remember, you WILL have slightly too much batter. Pour accordingly.
* This cake is best served fresh with a drizzle of chocolate syrup. It DOES need to be refrigerated.

Ice Cream is Delicious: Blueberry Coconut

As the saying goes, the heart wants what the heart wants. The other day I was buying a new food processor online. It was turquoise, one of my favorite colors. When I put it in my "cart," Amazon interjected, "You may also like this: Cuisinart ICE-21TQ Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker, Turquoise." As you can imagine, I am now the proud new owner of an ice cream maker.

So now I feel obligated, ahem, I mean inspired to make ice cream. I decided that my first endeavor should be something simple. It's blueberry season here in Tennessee. Have you ever read the poem "Blackberry Picking" by Seamus Heaney? Well that's how I feel about blueberries- greedy, like a pirate hoarding treasure. They're just so good!

I found this recipe for blueberry coconut ice cream on Roostblog.com. It only has three ingredients: blueberries, coconut milk and raw honey. And since I just read "Ratio" by Michael Ruhlman, I will explain it to you in ratios: two parts blueberries, three parts whole fat coconut milk, honey to taste. Can you believe something so plain can be so delicious?

We had one perfect afternoon this week. It was 75, sunny and not too humid. I can't imagine a better time to eat ice cream (that's not saying much; I've been known to eat ice cream during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade). I felt so lucky to work in an office that has a balcony!

Easy is delicious: Bean Bake

Yesterday I was thinking about coming home. Coming home always calls for food. Whether you're coming home for Christmas, from a late movie or from vacation- isn't it the nicest feeling knowing that someone cares enough to have something ready for you?

Last night my boyfriend went to the Predators game right down the street from my house so I decided to have something ready for him afterwards. I didn't have a lot on hand.

Every week when I go to the store or the Farmer's Market, I am completely entranced by the produce. This past week I bought parsnips. Why? Because they are the beautiful, off-white earthy color of a set of plates I want; I know, it's a girl thing. I also grabbed some vidalia onions; they remind me of summer. I have little patience for the gentle art of sautéing, so I threw everything in the oven together with salt and olive oil.

I remembered a post I had read by Jules Clancy of Stone Soup called Onion and White Bean Bake and I decided to make a similar dish. When my boyfriend came over, I heated up the bake. He told me it was delicious three times last night and once already this morning.

Easy Bean Bake:
2 vidalia onions, roasted and chopped
1/2 cup vegetables, roasted and chopped (I used one large parsnip and one small, raw carrot for crunch)
1 can white beans, drained
1/2 cup cheese, grated (I used goat milk gouda, my favorite)
2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary
splash of chicken stock
pepper to taste (you don't really need salt; the vegetables and the cheese are already salted)

Roast vegetables at 400 degrees until slightly caramelized. Give onions a fine chop and vegetables a rough chop. Mix everything together and place in a greased gratin dish. Top with a splash (1/4 of a cup or less) of stock and a little cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until bubbly. Broil the top until golden brown.

The best part of this story is that having food ready for him last night means that it is ready for me for lunch today!