Guest Post: Pear Gingerbread Upside-Down Cake

At my local food co-op the other day, I got one of the best check out people. (Although, they are all kind of the best. But this one. This one.) She's best because of how excited she gets about your purchases. 


"Triple cream!? Come on!"


"Barbecue chipotle!? Ohhhhh shit!"


She is like the locally sourced version of the four-on-the-floor capitalism club music they play at cheap clothing chains to get you SO PUMPED for buying. It works. I swear I would buy all the groats that bulk bin has to offer if it would please this woman. 


And how she appears to feel is exactly how I feel whenever a guest post from Sabra shows up in my email. "Pear gingerbread upside-down cake!? Girl, yes!"

It’s true, I love making upside-down cakes (see my Peach Cornmeal Lavender Upside-Down Cake post). They never fail to look impressive, although they are deceptively easy. This recipe is no exception.  The trick lies in using a well-seasoned cast-iron pan. I have made this cake many times, most recently for a Christhanukkahmus celebration with my partner. Although we had our fair share of it for dessert, I brought the leftovers to two other events the following week, where it received rave reviews. This is truly a delicious recipe. The pears become caramelized, perfectly complementing the gingerbread cake underneath. The leftovers are also nice for breakfast, alongside a steaming cup of coffee. The recipe comes from Epicurious, one of my go-to websites for cooking (and baking) inspiration.  It originates from my favorite magazine Gourmet (may you rest in peace, dear foodie magazine!). Enjoy!      

Topping:
2 ½ firm Bosc pears, cored and cut into 8 wedges each
½ stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
¾ cup packed brown sugar

Cake:
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp salt
1 cup molasses
1 cup boiling water
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten

For the topping, melt the butter in a 10-12 inch cast-iron skillet over moderate heat until the foam subsides.  (Note: as I emphasized in my last upside-down cake post, using a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet is a must! Otherwise the cake will stick when you try to invert it).  Reduce the heat to low, and sprinkle the brown sugar over the bottom of the skillet.  Cook it, undisturbed, for 3 minutes (not all of the sugar will be melted). Arrange the pears decoratively over the sugar and cook them, undisturbed, for 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.

For the cake, preheat the oven to 350˚F. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together the molasses and boiling water in a separate small bowl. Beat together the butter, brown sugar, and egg in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Then alternately mix in the flour mixture and molasses in three batches at low speed until smooth.

Pour the batter over the topping in the skillet, spreading it evenly. Be careful not to disturb the pears!  Bake the cake in the middle of the oven until a tester comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes.

Cool the cake in the skillet on a rack for 5 minutes. Then run a thin knife around the edge of the skillet.  Invert a large plate with a lip over the skillet. Use pot holders to hold the skillet and plate tightly together while inverting the cake onto the plate. (Note: an extra pair of hands can be useful for the inverting process). Replace any pears that stick to the skillet.  

Serve the cake warm or at room temperature, with vanilla ice cream on the side.   

Lunch-lunch Souffle

Oh man you guys. I'm really back now. Backlogged with things to internet-show you.

Including: I made this lunch the other day. And it was shortly after hearing a Splendid Table episode (new to my Pennsylvania local station, or new time and I caught it? something?) that talked about a tea room, and tea rooms in general, which, as they describe it, are few these days.

Few, but powerfully nostalgic for a certain kind of lunch.

You know. Lunch-lunch. Pale. Dainty. Light but not in the low-fat way. Bits. Pieces. Crocheted. Careful.

I've never been to a tea room, but, as a part of the development work I used to do for my dear art historians of yore, I sometimes did get to eat these sorts of elegantly-remembering lunches. While listening to lectures. Bonus!

So, when some friends were coming over for lunch the other day, I wanted to try to make a lunch like those lunches. A lunch-themed-lunch.

And I did. Cucumber sandwiches. Endive almond salad. Carrot soup. This souffle. And another very special thing that will appear here later.

Lunch-lunch ruled.

And, by the way. Don't be afraid of the souffle. They are so not hard to make and not as finicky as people make them out to be. If you can work an electric mixer you can pretty much make a souffle. Just take the steps one at a time and find sophisticated, savory success on the other end.

Get the recipe for these cheese + chive souffles here.

Carrot and (Sweet) Potato(es) Curry

Where did I go. I wonder this. Perhaps you do. Or you've forgotten or gotten tired of food and want to eat only fashion blogs from now on. These are things that can happen in a mild winter away.

I, I've been away. And then sick. And I have really not cooked anything almost at all since I was in Michigan and making mostly old hits and hotstuffs for my family that weren't really novel-to-this-blog enough to be worthy of posting. Although!, there was this one thing: The Awl's tofurkey, which I made for Christmas dinner and was seriously perfect but left unphotographed.

I used to wonder what people ate when they were the same people who said "I don't cook" and as I became, momentarily, one of those people, I will tell you that the answer is take out and bagels and, oh, oh, things from the freezer. I've been sick, ok? By the way, have you seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer (television)? Because it's the other thing I've been mostly doing during this of-late sickness break. It's so good, isn't it?

Anyway. Today I'm doing this (blogging). And last night I did this (above/below) and that, in general, is better. And this (above/below, curry) was terrific for the sudden pang of real winter that is greeting my reemergence.

Hey. Welcome back. It's 2012. Let's eat some food together.

2 tablespoons neutral oil like grape seed or canola
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 small carrots, peeled and chopped
1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped or red pepper flakes to taste
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/4 teaspoon dry ginger
salt
3 or 4 new potatoes, chopped
1 small sweet potato, peeled if the skin is tough, and chopped
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
2 tablespoons toasted dry shredded coconut
1/2 teaspoon agave nectar
cooked brown rice for serving
cilantro, chopped

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium. Add the onions, garlic, carrots, and spicy pepper along with the dry spices and a pinch of salt. Stir to combine. Cover and continue cooking until the carrots, in particular, are beginning to soften and release some moisture. You may need to stir intermittently.

Add the sweet and regular potatoes and continue cooking until they are just beginning to soften. At that point, stir in the coconut milk, making sure to scrape the pot to get the spices mixed in. Bring to just under a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until all the vegetables are cooked through.

Stir in the toasted coconut, along with more salt and a bit of agave nectar or another sweetener if desired.

Serve over rice. Garnish with cilantro.

Serves, oh, about three.

Dorothy's Butter Cookies

In case you wanted to make some last minute cookies and happened to have a cookie press laying around. The two are not mutually exclusive, no-oh.

Dorothy was my grandmother. She was kind and jolly and I loved her so much. These are some cookies she used to make, which, like everything she made, cut straight to the heart of things. They're called butter cookies for a reason, and when my mom and I doubled the batch the other day, we gazed down upon six sticks of butter in the bowl, then moved slowly forward.

You'll eat them much faster. Happy Christmas, friends.

3 sticks salted butter, softened (add salt--I'm not sure how much--if you are using unsalted butter)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla
4 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat your oven to 400° F.

With an electric mixer, beat butter in a large bowl until soft and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar, beating as you go. Beat in egg, and finally, the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and baking power. Gently beat these dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, a little bit at a time, until everything is combined. It should form a very thick dough. We used a standard hand mixer (actually two, as our first one was broken by this dough) but if you have a stand mixer, you may want to give the dough hook a try at some point.

Refrigerate the dough for 15 minutes or so.

Spoon the cooled dough into a cookie press and press cookies out onto ungreased baking sheets.

Decorate, then bake the cookies in batches, about 7 minutes per batch.

Makes approximately 5 dozen cookies.

This momentary pause turned in a mostofDecember pause. I'll be back, though, I promise. For now, some merriment.

Momentary pause, my friends. Instead of writing leisurely about food I'm writing writing writing writing feverishly about poetry, and art, and the places they overlap. It's good, consuming. Sometimes I eat pizza at my desk. See you when I emerge.

Meanwhile, here is a song for you to listen to.

Apple Ricotta Quick Bread

I hope you cuties have super Thanksgivings. As a pre-holiday-awaying note, here is a so-simple, so-tasty apple quickbread for you to make in case you're interested in eating something other than apple pie for breakfast.

Although, really, why would you be? Best save this one for next week and just go ahead and fall face-first into that breakfast pie.

Now I better get back to my vacation hat.

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup whole milk ricotta
1/2 cup 2% or whole milk
2 tablespoons canola or grape seed oil
2 large apples, cored and chopped (leave peels on), about 3 cups


Preheat your oven to 400° F. Line or grease a standard bread pan.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, baking soda, and cinammon.

In a larger bowl, whisk together the sugar, egg, ricotta, milk, and oil.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring to mostly combine. Toss in the apples and finish stirring until all is just incorporated.

Bake for about 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. About 30 minutes in, check and if the top is browning too quickly, cover with foil and finish cooking at 350° F.