Cherry & Blueberry Buckle

July 21, 2014 by Laura Messersmith in Cooking

The theme of red, dessert-related treats continues today mainly because I over-did it a little on the cherry related purchases last week. They were just so gorgeous looking that I bought a giant bag, so here we are with more cherries to eat. Thankfully, we were invited to a brunch party over the weekend, so I volunteered to bring the coffee cake and thus had a perfect excuse to make Cherry & Blueberry Buckle.

I was inspired by a recipe I found on Seven Spoons, and I knew immediately that it would be the perfect stand-in for a traditional coffee cake. I’m not entirely sure what a pastry chef would consider the difference between a buckle and a coffee cake since both involve fruit and a streusel topping, so I just decided to go with it.

Seven Spoons’ recipe was loosely adapted from this Blueberry Buckle recipe by Salt Water Farms for Bon Appétit. Coincidentally, SWF offers an entire class on fruit desserts entitled Cobblers, Buckles and Grunts. Doesn’t that sound like heaven? Maybe this is my opportunity to go to Maine and learn about the entire spectrum of fruit-related sweets….

Just in case Maine isn’t in the cards this year we can still channel a summery, New England treat at home. I partially followed both recipes noted above (my adaptation below) and the results were delicious.

I promise I’m not tooting my own horn here – Mike and my partners-in-brunch can corroborate that it was pretty awesome. Sweet, fragrant, and packed with fruit it was especially good served still warm from the oven.

I have future plans for this recipe involving other fruits: apricots, perhaps? or tart cherries? I’d love to try it in muffin form or perhaps with the addition of a scoop of vanilla or blueberry ice cream? The possibilities seem endless….

Cherry & Blueberry Buckle (yield: one buckle, serves 6-8 ppl)

Sugar & Spice Topping Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/4" pieces

Buckle Ingredients:

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) room temperature unsalted butter, plus more for pan

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoons kosher salt

3/4 cup sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup whole milk

6 ounces (1 ¼ cups) fresh or thawed blueberries

10 ounces (2 cups) pitted, roughly chopped black cherries

Special Items:

9” spring form pan

parchment paper

Sugar & Spice Topping Instructions:

In a medium bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and salt. Add diced butter and combine with your fingers until mixture comes together to form a texture like damp sand; refrigerate until needed.

Buckle Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°. To prepare the pan butter the inside of a 9” spring form cake pan and place a disk of parchment paper cut to size in the bottom. Butter the parchment paper and dust the interior of the pan with flour. Tap out any excess flour.

In a medium bowl, whisk baking powder, salt, and flour.

In a separate medium bowl, beat sugar and room temperature butter using an electric mixer on high speed until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla just to combine, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients in stages, then milk; mix just to combine.

Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in blueberries and diced cherries. Don’t be stingy with the fruit, if you have a few extra berries or cherries – add them in! Spoon batter into prepared pan, smooth top, and place pan on a rimmed baking sheet. Evenly crumble sugar and spice topping over.

Bake until top is golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 75–90 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool before unmolding and serving.

Small Kitchen Friendly?

Yes, to a degree. The recipe as written calls for three medium bowls, an electric mixer, measuring cups & spoons, a spring form pan, and a cookie sheet.

However, if bowls are limited it would be easy to switch the order of prep and re-use the dry ingredient bowl to make the topping. If a fancy presentation isn’t essential – and this is a rustic type of cake – then using a regular cake pan or muffin tins would be a solid option too.

And, don't forget Food52's genius cherry pitting DIY - I used it again, still works!

Plum & Raspberry Crumble

July 16, 2014 by Laura Messersmith in Cooking with the Contessa

As inspiration for more adventurous culinary efforts I’m following along with Ina Garten, aka The Barefoot Contessa, in my tiny New York kitchen. Let’s see if I can keep up with the Contessa!

Episode: “Long Island Food”

The Set-up: Ina owes her realtor Jack a “big favor;” the end result: she’s doing the cooking when his Friends visit the Hamptons.

The Menu: Beef & Horseradish Sauce Sandwich, Montauk Seafood Salad, Plum Raspberry Crumble

0:33 – Before we get started on the Beef & Horseradish Sauce Sandwich can we speculate for a moment on what Jack did for Ina that resulted in her owing him so big? Did he settle a bridge-related gambling debt? Alter some records in the surveyor’s office? I smell a mystery!

1:16 – Okay, back to the food. She’s roasting an entire beef tenderloin just to make sandwiches for four people, so the debt must have been serious.

2:27 – Pro Tip #1: pat the tenderloin dry with a paper towel then coat it with butter, mustard, salt & pepper to keep the meat moist while flavoring it.

3:49 – While the beef cooks she makes the horseradish sauce, which also includes Dijon mustard and coarse-grain mustard. Talk about clearing out the sinuses – spicy.

4:08 – The roast is out of the oven and it looks so good that I feel bad for teasing her 4 minutes ago. Pro Tip #2: Use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature, then cover with foil and allow the meat to rest for 10-15 minutes.

4:45 – We check in with Jack and Friends to find them at Mecox Bay Dairy doing some cheese tasting. Remember when we had our pairing lesson? Art tells them about Mecox Sunrise and they decide to bring some to Ina.

5:12 – Sandwich assembly time. Ina’s using Eli’s Health Loaf #2 and I can personally assure you that this is really good bread.

6:23 – I like Ina’s take on sandwiches – lots of Pro Tips #3: a thin layer of butter on the bottom slice keeps the bread moist. #4: don’t neglect the corners with the sauce! #5: something crunchy (in this case arugula) is always nice.

6:51 – Jack and Friends come to Ina’s and they trade witticisms, sandwiches, and cheese in that order. Can I just say that I don’t really get the Friends? Who are these people? Does Jack owe them a favor? I feel like we’re in deep waters here…

10:04 – Now that we’re alone with Ina again she pretends like everything is normal and that we’re just making Plum Raspberry Crumble like nothing happened, but I noticed she didn’t let Jack and Friends into the house.

11:28 – The combination of red plums and raspberries is beautiful and she hasn’t even cooked it yet! Pro Tip #6: stirring a little flour into the fruit makes for a delicious “goo.”

13:11 – The crumble is in the oven and we get a check in on Jack and Friends. It’s so odd, they seem like regular, sandwich eating people and yet they have such a hold over Jack. He promises them an afternoon of surprises to placate them.

14:56 – Back to Ina’s to start the Montauk Seafood Salad and she must be really rattled because she’s having a hard time remembering the reason for the name. (Hint: it’s where the fishing boats are!)

15:20 – As Ina peels and deveins the shrimp she gives us Pro Tip #7: the trick to cooking shrimp is to slightly under-cook them 1½ - 2 minutes.

20:09 – Next, Ina poaches the sea scallops in hot water with white wine vinegar and salt. These also take just a few minutes – 1 minute for small bay scallops, perhaps 4-5 minutes for larger sea scallops. I never realized shellfish was so delicate!

21:17 – Now we get a little lesson on mussels. First, all mussels should be tightly closed (open before cooking means they’re dead – no good.) Second, mussels need to be scrubbed and soaked in water with a little flour to get rid of the sand. Third, remove the ‘beard’ before cooking.

22:02 – Montauk Seafood Salad seems like quite a process. After cooking the mussels they now have to be removed from their shells. Whew.

23:33 – Off for a wine tasting break with Jack and Friends at Channing Daughters Winery. Jack would clearly like a generous glug of chardonnay, but decides to keep his wits about him pleading designated driver. Smart play, Jack.

24:01 – Back with Ina. She’s making a lemon, thyme and garlic vinaigrette by infusing warm olive oil with the seasonings. I like that idea and I bet mixing the seafood with warm dressing will really bring out the flavors.

28:54 – She finishes plating the seafood salad just and Jack and Friends arrive. It’s a race against the clock. Once again, Ina greets them outside. This time they don’t even make it to the front porch!

29:45 – She hands off the Montauk Seafood Salad and Plum Raspberry Crumble in exchange for three bottles of wine. Her relief is palpable and she let’s us know that “while they’re eating their dinner she’ll be drinking hers.” Point taken.

Final Thoughts:

Those filet of beef sandwiches looked really, really good. I wonder if I could make a smaller batch using filet mignon?

I love how many crumble recipes Ina has – literally several for any season of the year.

I learned an important lesson: never get in the position of owing Jack a favor.

Lessons Learned:

After the success I had with the Peach and Blueberry Crumble a few weeks ago and with the bounty of summer fruit still filling the markets I was in the mood for more crumble. You might not believe me, but Plum Raspberry Crumble is actually even easier.

Once again, the recipe consists of two components – the plums & raspberries and the oatmeal almond crumble topping. Both elements require minimal prep (no skin removal this time!) and just a little measuring and mixing. Also, just one large dish instead of several small ramekins – bonus. Don’t forget your parchment paper lined sheet tray and keep the butter cold!

Small Kitchen Friendly?

Yes, for the most part especially in comparison to the Peach Blueberry Crumble. I used two medium bowls (one for the fruit filling and one for the crumble mixture), one large casserole dish, and a sheet pan. I also used a spatula, pastry cutter, measuring cups and spoons, and my bird beak paring knife to cut the plums. (The curved blade works well for cutting stone fruit, but a regular paring knife would work too.)

The Verdict:

Plums are somewhat sweet and fairly mild in flavor, so the combination with tart raspberries is great. We also really liked the balance of textures – crispy crumble top + firm plums + delicate raspberries + cool ice cream = a nice contrast. I didn’t owe anyone a favor when I made Plum Raspberry Crumble, but it still makes an excellent summer dessert when you want people to feel special (look, I baked!) but need something relatively low pressure (no pie crust to stress over.) Definitely try this while plums are still in season.

Bastille Day Cherry Clafoutis

July 14, 2014 by Laura Messersmith in Cooking

So many of the recipes I love to make are inspired by the flavors and traditions of France, so in honor of Bastille Day I wanted to make a classic French dish to celebrate a country that has given so much to the culinary world. As I scrolled through the Google results looking for inspiration I came across a dessert called clafoutis.

The descriptions and photos I studied made it sound like a recipe straddling the borders of pancake, soufflé, and custard (distinctions that seem to depend on cooking time, flour content, and batter ‘fluffiness.’)

Intrigued and psyched to find a dish that didn’t involve a ton of actual cooking on this humid quatorze julliet (I do want to make bouillabaisse some day, just not on in the middle of summer!) I decided to attempt it. I came across many other recipes that used other fruits and contained variations on the batter proportions, but decided to go with Saveur’s recipe, which uses the traditional black cherries.

Lessons Learned:

The biggest challenge I encountered was regulating my oven temperature. Remember all the trouble I had with the Honey Vanilla Pound Cake a few weeks ago? Well, I think I found the culprit: wonky calibration. I discovered when I bought an oven thermometer that my oven runs about 20 degrees cooler than the marked temperature. Turning it up 20 degrees doesn’t fix the issue because then it over compensates. As a result, I nearly burned my Bastille Day Cherry Clafoutis! Thank goodness I checked on it after about 10 minutes. I think I salvaged it by covering the top with foil and reducing the temperature for the remaining cooking time….

Small Kitchen Friendly?

Yes, absolutely! I used a 9” cast iron skillet (heavily buttered with a pastry brush), but any baking dish about the same diameter should work. All the mixing takes place in a blender, so all I needed was a small bowl for the pitted cherries, measuring cups and spoons.

A note on pitting cherries: Even though traditionally the cherries are just de-stemmed and added whole; I’m just not interested in dodging pits when I’m trying to enjoy a delicious dessert so I did pit them for this recipe. However, I don’t own an olive/cherry pitter… Food52 to the rescue with this DIY kitchen hack using a beer bottle and a chopstick. I tried it and it really works!

The Verdict

Black cherries are one of my favorite fruits and are definitely the star of this Cherry Clafoutis. The batter surrounding them is fairly mild even with the strong doses of liqueur and vanilla, a little more salt (I started with 1/8 teaspoon but I think ¼ or even ½ might be better) would help enhance the flavor. I like the lightness bread pudding-esque texture, but next time I’d like to try a variation that uses even less flour for a more custard-y result.

Honey Vanilla Pound Cake with Strawberries

July 02, 2014 by Laura Messersmith in Cooking with the Contessa

Each week I try to expand my culinary horizons and improve my technique by cooking a new recipe in my tiny New York City kitchen. (Seriously, this baby is small!) My inspiration and guiding light: Ina Garten, aka The Barefoot Contessa. Follow along with me, learn from my mistakes!, and let's see if I can keep up with the Contessa!

Episode: “Market Day”

The Set-up: Ina visited the Sag Harbor Farmers’ Market and is really jazzed to use local produce to inspire her recipes.

The Menu: Honey Vanilla Pound Cake, Mache Salad with Brie and Apples, Vanilla Extract, Garlic & Lemon Oil, Basil Mayonnaise

0:51 – We get a voiceover tour of the Sag Harbor Farmers’ Market as Ina explains how seasonal ingredients determine what she’ll cook. I would love to get in this mindset but 99% of the items I buy at markets are jam related…

1:15 – Case in point: Ina found some local honey (cue a “loving local honeys” joke for my sister in law…) and decided to make Honey Vanilla Pound Cake.

2:07 – Courtesy of Cooks Illustrated magazine we get Pro Tip #1: ‘cool room temperature’ butter makes the best pound cake crumb. This seems like a tricky distinction, but worth trying for?

3:22 – Next, we get a bee keeping tutorial from Frederique Keller of Bee Pharm – the producer of the honey Ina purchased. I swear this looks like a Honey Nut Cheerios commercial (in a good way!) all warm sunlight and golden wheat oat fields.

4:23 – Back to Ina and the Honey Vanilla Pound Cake. The honey seems to be getting the best of her, but she still manages to deliver Pro Tip #2: Adding the honey to the eggs in a measuring cup will make it easier to pour into the mixer.

4:39 – Ina’s using cake flour but offers us a helpful substitute if we only have all-purpose flour in the pantry. Making a note because I literally never have anything other than all-purpose…

5:55 – The cake is baked and Ina expertly turns it out of the loaf pan thanks to the parchment paper liner. She suggests some serving ideas – butter, more honey, berries – but says really she likes it best plain.

9:43 – Next up, Ina’s making a salad using cheese produced by the Mecox Bay Dairy for her staff. Do you think Barefoot Contessa HR lists ‘lunches prepared by Ina’ in it’s benefits package? Who needs paid vacation!

9:55 – During her Ina’s intro to the dairy we get the most idyllic, sun-dappled scenes of cows strolling through a green pasture and munching on hay. For Kate, my one word review: pastoral.

10:37 – She’s baking wedges of a Mecox cheese similar to Brie with honey and pistachios for the Mache Salad with Brie and Apples. This looks truly awesome, but I’m not sure it can really be called ‘salad’ yet…

11:04 – Apparently baked Brie has to be watched carefully or it liquefies “likethat” [finger snap]. You’ve been warned.

13:16 – The mache greens have arrived and are dressed with balsamic vinaigrette. They look pretty similar to clover, so now I suppose it’s a salad.

14:29 – Oooh, nice. Ina asked Art for a cheese-pairing lesson on the Mecox cheeses. Here’s the rundown: Farmhouse cheddar + chutney & malt-y beer; Sigit + salted cashews & dry hard cider; Mecox Sunrise + pears & sweet Sauterne; Shawondasee + celery & crisp Sauvignon Blanc.

15:58 – We’re back with Ina and she’s assembling the salads. The devouring hordes, ahem I mean ladies, from Barefoot Contessa HQ arrive and dive in.

20:12 – We’ve reached the ‘potions and concoctions’ portion of the show. She doesn’t call it that, but I think it’s appropriate.

21:03 – First potion: homemade Vanilla Extract = Vanilla Beans + Vodka + Time. I’d like to point out that the recipe says this takes 720 hours or 1 month. Ina recommends 6 months, which would be 4,320 hours. No big deal.

21:36 – Second potion: Garlic Lemon Oil = Hot Oil + Garlic Cloves + Lemon Peel + Red Pepper Flakes. This does require a little cooking, but I bet this is super flavorful.

22:14 – Finally, a concoction: Basil Mayonnaise. I have to be honest – the closest I’m going to get to making this recipe is if I blend store-bought mayonnaise with basil leaves.

27:32 – Ask Ina Time! The first question is a request for a Roasted Beet recipe. I actually love beets, so I’m paying close attention here and adding ‘beets’ to my grocery list.

28:45 – Second question: how to get the core out of a head of lettuce. I would normally consider this question absurd, but then we get to see Ina smash a head of iceberg on the counter. Twice! The second time is in slo-mo and it’s amazing. Also, this trick totally works, so there’s that.

29:50 – Third question: another recipe request this one for radishes. Ina recommends eating them raw dipped in a pile of sea salt with bread and butter. I’m not kidding. This apparently how French school children eat them? I feel like she’s pulling my leg. Perhaps this is her new way of dealing with silly questions? Anyway, that’s the end!

Final Thoughts:

I love farmers’ markets but I’m always overwhelmed, hence the jam purchases. Time to take Ina’s approach.

The Hamptons seem to have so much great produce – farms, fishing boats, wine – I need a harvest-time visit!

This set of Ask Ina questions must have required a particular amount of restraint. She needed to whack that lettuce. Seriously.

Lessons Learned:

I’ve made sweetbread before, but never Honey Vanilla Pound Cake, which sounded amazing. I had to take Ina’s advice on the cake flour substitute but I did remember to take the butter out in advance to come to room temperature, so progress!

I had no trouble with the measurements or the process, but the baking time is a different question. The recipe calls for 50-60 minutes, but I needed more like 75 before the toothpick came out clean.

I have a few theories that bear future trial:

1. Typically, I place all baked goods on the middle rack (something to do with even air circulation), but in my oven the heat comes from the bottom. Perhaps placing the pan on the bottom rack closer to the heat source would help it cook correctly?

2. I’ve never noticed a problem with our oven cooking at the correct temperature, but without a thermometer it’s impossible to know for sure. Perhaps it’s a few degrees off?

3. It’s pretty warm here in New York and my butter was definitely very soft by the time I started to bake. Maybe that pesky ‘cool room temperature’ butter is more essential than I realized?

Small Kitchen Friendly?

Yes, for a baked good especially. I used two medium sized bowls (butter & sugar, and dry ingredients) and a two-cup liquid measure for the eggs, honey, etc. The recipe calls for a stand mixer, but I couldn’t be bothered to pull it out and used handheld mixer instead. I also used a glass loaf pan, rubber spatula, microplane grater, and measuring spoons and cups.

The Verdict:

I brought Honey Vanilla Pound Cake and Strawberries (recipe below) to a backyard picnic for my take on Strawberry Shortcake. I got positive feedback from everyone on the results and I personally though the pound cake served as an excellent compliment to the fresh berries.

The flavor is light - I’d probably add a bit more honey and vanilla to the next attempt - however, as a vehicle for juicy strawberries it’s perfect. I’d make this again for an easy summer dessert, or when I needed something portable and easily assembled for a crowd at a Fourth of July barbecue. Try this, but keep an eye on it and let me know how it turns out!

Macerated Strawberries
(serve 6-8 ppl)

1.5 lbs. fresh strawberries, sliced
1/3 cup sugar, or less to taste
1 tsp. lemon zest

In a medium bowl, stir together sliced strawberries, sugar, and lemon zest. Allow the mixture to rest for 45-60 minutes before serving over biscuits, cake, or ice cream.