Fannee Doolee

Almond Tart

Patrick has left me some fairly large shoes to fill (size 11W, to be exact) as the full-time parent.  Not only has he managed to establish daily routines, provide childcare and perform household maintenance, he also polished his culinary talents to impressive levels.  Seriously, how can I compete with this?

Patrick's signature dish - other than his Greek cookies ("Kholouria") that he makes every Christmas - is this beautiful Almond Tart from The Cafe Cookbook, a wonderful collection of rustic Italian recipes written by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers, who run The River Cafe in England and who have a captivating cooking show that used to air on PBS and from which I learned the immeasurable benefit of cooking with really good sea salt. 

Patrick made this beauty last night to take to an end-of-the-year dinner for the cooperative preschool board on which he served.  He brought back about half - it's in the refrigerator right now.  Odds say it will be down to a slim quarter by daybreak tomorrow.

So, without further adieu and in full tribute to Patrick's culinary and domestic talents all around, today's Food Glorious Food post features the recipe for this wonderful dish, which I hope Ms. Gray and Ms. Rogers will not view as copyright infringement but, rather, free publicity for their many cookbooks. . . which you should go out and purchase or order through Amazon.com.

Torta di Mandorle

Almond Tart

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

A pinch of salt

11 tablespoons unsalted cold butter, cut into cubes

½ cup powdered sugar

2 large organic egg yolks (the recipe actually specifies ‘organic’ – that’s not just Patrick being green)

Filling

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons superfine sugar

8 ounces blanched whole almonds

3 large organic eggs

For the pastry, pulse the flour, salt, and butter in a food processor until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.  Add the sugar, then egg yolks and pulse until the mixture begins to form clumps.  Remove, flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least an hour until very firm.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Coarsely grate the pastry into a 12-inch loose-bottomed tart pan, then press it evenly on to the sides and bottom.  Line the pastry with aluminum foil, then dried beans.  (Yes, dried beans - I guess this is to just help it lay flat?  I don't know if Patrick has ever tried this without the beans.) Bake for 10 minutes, remove foil and beans.  Bake until very light brown, 10 minutes or more.  Cool.  Reduce the temperature to 300 degrees.

For the filing, cream the butter and sugar until the mixture is pale and light.  In a food processor, chop the almonds until fine.  Add the butter and sugar and blend, then add the eggs one by one.  Spread into the pastry and bake for 45-50 minutes, until top is golden brown (see photo above).  Cool and over with seasonal fruits.  (Patrick almost always uses strawberries, but added blueberries for the Fourth of July once).

Serves 10-12 (or really more like 20 - this thing is huge!)  Manga!

Churros

Yesterday, I attended my second class on "The Art of Positive Parenting," a six-week  course being offered by my firm - more on that later.  For now, it suffices to say that I am embracing the concept of establishing open, supportive lines of communication with my children and relieving myself of the "good mother" syndrome, described basically as the need to micromanage your children and solve all of their problems for them.

So it was fortuitous that I came home from work in that rather open-minded state on the night that An and her friends were planning to use my kitchen to prepare Churros, a Mexican dessert, to take in to Spanish class the next day.  Although I was a little apprehensive about three teenagers deep-frying on an electric range, I limited my interference to purely safety-related guidance and let them have at it.  The final product was quite lovely, albeit a bit "turd" shaped:

The actual recipe called for a fluted pastry tube, but we improvised with a baggie and some tinfoil, hence the shape.  However, the taste was out of this world.  Recipe below. 

Churros

Ingredients: (Makes one plate full)
Vegetable or Olive Oil
1 cup water
1/2 cup margarine or butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

Prepare to fry the churros by heating oil in a pan (1 to 1&1/2 inches) to 360 degrees F.

To make churro dough, heat water, margarine and salt to rolling boil in 3-quart saucepan; stir in flour. Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture forms a ball, about 1 minute; remove from heat. Beat eggs all at once; continue beating until smooth and then add to saucepan while stirring mixture.

Spoon mixture into cake decorators tube with large star tip (like the kind use to decorate cakes). Squeeze 4-inch strips of dough into hot oil. Fry 3 or 4 strips at a time until golden brown, turning once, about 2 minutes on each side. Drain on paper towels. (Mix Sugar and the optional cinnamon); roll churros in sugar or dump the sugar on the pile of churros, like the pros. That churro taste will take you right back to your favorite summer days walking the paseos of Spain.

Note: REAL churros in Spain are made without cinnamon mixed with the sugar, but the cinnamon adds an extra nice flavor.

A few photos of the chefs in action:

An and Skyler contemplate doubling or quadrupling the recipe while Mai fashions a pastry tube out of tin foil.

I was a little worried that someone's hair would catch on fire.

Speaking of hair . . .

Logan and Kiki pay complements to chef Mai.

Vietnamese Pork-Cabbage Soup

Cabbage Roll-ups, originally uploaded by Fannee Doolee.

Today, Florence, the area coordinator of An's exchange student program, hosted an international luncheon at her house.  Each student was asked to bring a dish from there home country.  I was asked to bring a simple American side dish.  Simple?  Every dish I thought of was really an American-ized version of some other country's cuisine:  chips and salsa; pasta; French fries.  Finally, I came up with what I thought was a signature American dish, reflecting the hallmarks of our culture:  laziness and pre-processed foods.  My dish?  Beans and Weenies!  Simple, American, and also something the kids would eat.    But then I learned that this dish isn't American either - it's GERMAN!  Agh!

Recipe (sort of) for An's Pork & Cabbage Soup:

1.  Clean and separate one head of green cabbage (the curly Savoy cabbage works great)

2.  Blanch cabbage for 5-10 minutes in a pot of boiling salted water.  The leaves should be tender enough to wrap.

3.  In a bowl, mix 1lb ground pork, 1-2 cloves minced garlic, 1/4 cup chopped green onions (save the stems - you'll need to cut them as long as possible and blanch them too), salt & pepper, and a handful of cooked rice noodles (cellophane noodles).

4.  Place the cabbage leaves on a towel to drain/dry, then proceed by wrapping about one teaspoon of the pork mixture in each cabbage leave.  Try to wrap the sides in first, then roll so that all of the pork is enclosed.  Then, tie the roll secure with a green onion stem.  This is extremely difficult.  The end result looks like something a Barbie doll might take camping. 

5.  Fill a pan with about one cup of water for every 4-6 rolls, season with salt, pepper and Fish Sauce (you can buy in the Asian food section of most grocery stores), more chopped green onions and - heck - if you're adventurous, you can even throw in a handful or two of chopped tofu. 

6.  Simmer for 20 minutes.  Can be served with rice. 

Blueberry Smoothies

Blueberry Face, originally uploaded by Fannee Doolee.

Because you really do want to know what we had for lunch.

Ingredients:

1/2 bag frozen organic blueberries
1/3 container vanilla yogurt
2 frozen bananas

Blend in blender; add just enough milk or orange juice to reach desired consistency.

Serve with straws - spatulas optional.

Pan-seared in a light rosemary-balsamic infused olive oil and served atop a bed of minted rice pilaf

Alternate Titles:  "The Kitchen Lounge" or "The 'If I Were Going to Eat You' Game"

Today, my good friend Katie treated me to an early birthday lunch at The Kitchen Lounge (TKL), a fabulous new restaurant in Columbus recently opened by more good friends, Rob and Dana.

Katie and I have been fortunate enough to have enjoyed Rob and his culinary talents for many, many years.  Rob is a talented individual in many other ways as well, including one which I discovered through a game we used to play back in my College Glory Days called the "If I Were Going to Eat You" game. 

This game requires players to use discreet culinary terminology and perceptive observation to characterize the essence of a person by describing how they would be prepared as food.  For example, Katie or I would often describe our method of preparing Amy, our third roommate and the most wholesome of our trio affectionately referred to by Rob and his cohorts as "the Witches," by encasing her in a delicate puff pastry seasoned with cinnamon and brown sugar and served warm topped with vanilla ice cream, probably the custardy French vanilla kind as opposed to the stark white kind containing flecks of ground vanilla bean.

By sophisticated players, this game could be used to flirt, praise or slyly jab, as Katie recalled when she recently reminisced about a friend of ours with whom she had an on-again, off-again dating relationship and who once referred to her as "baked Alaska", the apparent reference being to a high-class and sophisticated delicacy with a frigid center.  For the record, I think I always prepared Katie tossed with angel-hair pasta in a delicate white-wine sauce with sundried tomatoes, shitake mushrooms and perhaps a few sauteed shrimp.  In turn, she usually prepared me as some sort of robust Cajun dish.

I will never forget the night that I, in a shameful state of intoxication, was privy to a fascinating "If I Were Going to Eat You" dueling match of sorts between Rob and one of his lesser-gifted fraternity brothers, Steve, who had developed a crush on me after I went with him to the emergency room when he broke his big toe on choir tour in Chicago.  Rob and I vainly attempted to explain the "If I Were Going to Eat You" game to Steve. 

"Oh, I get it."  Steve said, and then proceeded to describe how he would cut off the top of my head, scoop out the contents and use my empty noggin for a cereal bowl. 

To say that Rob then proceeded to absolutely fillet Steve is an understatement.  Rob described in finite detail the delicate method he would use to slice me in to thin strips, marinate me to desired tenderness, then layer me between warm focaccia along with roasted peppers, greens and other fine vegetables and seasonings.  Then, he explained, he would place me beneath a large, smooth stone, where my layered-ness would be compressed to a fine, dense sandwich.  (I note that there is a somewhat similarly prepared chicken sandwich on TKL menu which I had the first time I dined there - excellent.)

Each item on TKL's menu is one that I can envision as a suiting preparation of Rob or his wife, Dana.  Like Rob and Dana, the menu items are sincere, unique, astonishing and sophisticated without being at all pretentious or loosing their down-to-earth comfort food roots.  So, if you would like to sample food prepared by someone who truly puts himself into his work, I encourage you to visit TKL.  I also encourage you to try the "If I Were Going to Eat You" game by posting your entries as comments below.  Maybe I'll award prizes.  (I'm expecting a good one from you, B.)

Bon Apetit.

He Understands

Last night, I was struck with an overwhelming sense of loss, longing and complete absence of satisfaction.  I can only describe the feeling as beyond physical, perhaps instinctual, to the point that the voices in my head compelled me to search frantically throughout the house as the sweat gathered on my palms and I began to shake.  I had to physically grab hold of something as a deep, gutteral wail shuddered through my body.  I tried to explain to Patrick, "If I could just somehow get you to understand how deep, how intense . . ."

"Your craving for chocolate is?" 

Ta - Daaah

Eat Cake

My goal this weekend is to make Sweet Potato Bundt Cake with Rum-Plumped Raisins and a Spiked Sugar Glaze, as featured in the book "Eat Cake" by Jeanne Ray.

Feel free to place your bets now as to whether I will actually make the cake or just drink the rum.