Recipes & Cooking: June 2005 Archives

I don't think this turned out quite right (not as high as the picture), but it was so doggone good that I have to write it up anyway. It's like a giant, round almond croissant that you can serve for dessert. And not too difficult, either. The other thing I like about it is it calls for 1/4 cup almond paste, not a whole tube, but it's very marzipan-y.

Roll out two puff pastry sheets so you have space on each to cut out a 10-inch round (the recipe called for 11-inch rounds, used all the almond cream and took longer to bake than my version). Cut the rounds with a knife then stick them in the fridge. Mix together (I used the mixer) 1/4 cup each almond paste and sugar and 3 tablespoons softened butter. When that's smoothish, add 1 egg and 1/4 teaspoon each almond and vanilla extract. Mix to combine, then mix in 2 tablespoons flour. Place one round on a baking sheet, then spread the almond cream on it, leaving the edge all the way around uncovered. Cut vents in the other sheet and brush it with an egg wash. Brush the egg wash around the edge of the bottom pastry, too, then place the other round, egg wash side up, on top, and press on the edges with a fork to close. Bake until burnished brown on top in a 450 degree oven (mine took 15 minutes) then dust with confectioners' sugar. Serve warm.

Warning: Lamb fat is a tricky one to wash off. I made these patties under my broiler this weekend and have washed the broiler pan three times and it still feels sticky. But I've grown to love the taste of lamb; I guess a little extra dishwashing is the price to pay.

I mixed these up and formed them into patties early in the day, then refrigerated them until we were ready to make dinner: about three minced scallions, a couple tablespoons minced mint, a large minced clove of garlic and a pound of ground lamb. Season the outside of the patties with salt an pepper, broil on each side about 5 minutes (I made them into three big patties) and serve with yogurt, chutney and warm flatbread.

This was a fast, easy dinner that I made when we got home from New Paltz. I had bought smoked mozzarella for another dish I want to make later this week, and I was kind of worried that it wouldn't taste very good with the pepperoni - too many strong flavors. But it turned out great. The only problem was the FD flatbread I used as a crust never got crispy - I think if I had cooked it on the floor of the oven it might have remedied that.

I just thawed the frozen pre-grilled flatbread and spread it with tomato sauce (a Barilla garlic and onion pasta sauce that, dare I risk the wrath of cooks everywhere?, I like), then sprinkled chopped pepperoni and shredded smoked mozzarella on top. Baked in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes, to warm everything through.

I felt like I was Emeril when I was making this cornmeal cake. August was watching, first from the front carrier and then from the high chair, and he was really exited about everything I did. Cream a softened stick of butter with a cup of sugar? He watches, rapt. Add a mixture of 1 cup cornmeal, 3/4 cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder and 3/4 teaspoon salt? A shriek and some arm waving, then more rapt watching as the paddle turns. Some coos of delight as I pour in 2/3 cup of milk, 2 eggs and one yolk and mix until lighter in color and texture, about 3 minutes.

Then from the high chair he burbled and babbled as I poured the mixture into an 8-inch springform pan (the only kind of 8-inch pan I have) and put it in a 400 degree oven for 40 minutes. (Since no one mentioned baking troubles in the comments on Epicurious I can only assume that it was my own oven's fault that I had to bake it for an hour and 10 minutes instead of the recommended 40.) Let it cool for 10 minutes, then brushed it with 1/3 cup of a rosemary sugar syrup I had made ahead (boil 3/4 cup each sugar and water with 1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh rosemary, steep for 30 minutes, then strain).

I liked this cake a lot: dense, coarse texture and an interesting flavor from the cornmeal and the rosemary. Epicurious says to serve it with whipped cream and blackberries, but I think it can stand alone, too.

I had leftover Italian sausage I needed to use and I was sick of pan-browning them: We did it with the casing off this weekend for a pasta sauce, and whenever I try to brown them whole I'm always worried they're not getting cooked through. So last night I roasted them in a 400 degree oven (thanks to the modern miracle of air conditioning) over white beans.

I mixed a 19-ounce can of white beans with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning mix from Penzey's (oregano, rosemary, marjoram, etc), olive oil and diced tomato in a small casserole, then stabbed four sweet Italian sausages in a few places with a knife and laid them on top. Roasted for 40 minutes in a 400 degree oven. At that point some of the beans had dried out, but the bottom of the sausages were not browned so I turned them and roasted for another 10 minutes. I think I could've turned them halfway and skipped the last 10 minutes, but I don't know how to keep the beans from drying out, except to stir them halfway through, which I guess you could do when you turn the sausage.

The beans end up really good, though, because they soak up all that fat from the pork sausages. Don't want to let that go to waste!

We had a rosemary-syrup-soaked cornmeal cake for dessert, which I thought was fantastic, an odd flavor that really works. The cake ends up dense and polenta-ish from all the syrup, with a nice rough texture and a corny flavor. I'll write it up next.