have your calvados and eat it too

Happy Halloween!  It’s ok to still gorge yourself on fun-size chocolate bars, I won’t tell.  But after the kiddies go home, treat yourself to a more adult delight – like this Calvados apple cake.  Two years ago, I threw a Halloween party as a thinly-veiled vehicle to concoct pumpkin cupcakes and spiked apple cider.  It was a dismal turnout and possibly the worst Halloween party in all of history.  Those 3 of you who came, thanks for the support.  But for us merry four, or five, the spikiness of the cider sure made it seem more warm and cheerful at the time.  Especially for me, as I’m pretty sure I went through a quart of liquid gold nursing my sorrow until the first guest showed up.  The secret wasn’t the slow simmer of local-pressed autumnal cider, or the blood orange studded with cloves thrown into the pot with cinnamon sticks and crystallized ginger slices.  No, it was definitely the spicy sweet Calvados, the French apple brandy, that you top off the mug of cider with at the end.  So now, 2 years later, I have the half empty bottle of delicious apple brandy still sitting in my cabinet…and with the weather turning back to autumn, it seems the perfect time to put it to good use.

The hardest part of this recipe is preparing the apples (I used Granny Smith) and layering them for a beautiful effect.  However, I think you’ll find that filling your house with the smell of cinnamon and apples is worth the time.  I made some changes, like doubling the Calvados (hey, I’ve got to use it up!), cutting the batter’s sugar to 1/2 cup and adding some nutmeg , but the original recipe is below.  This cake is pretty dense so it is best served warm with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

French Apple Cake

Bon Appetit, October 1992, Ruth Gardner-Loew

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1 and 3/4 cups sugar, divided

1/3 cup water

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2 large apples, peeled, cored, thinly sliced

1 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 large egg yolks

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons Calvados, applejack or other brandy

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Butter and lightly sugar a 9-inch-diameter cake pan. Melt the 1/4 cup butter in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat.  Stir in 3/4 cup of the sugar, water and cinnamon and bring to boil.  Add apples and cook until apples are just tender, turning frequently, about 15 minutes.  Remove apples, using slotted spoon, and let cool.  Arrange decoratively in bottom of pan. Continue boiling liquid in skillet until thick and syrupy.  Pour over apples.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into small bowl.  Whisk remaining 1 cup of the sugar, egg yolks, eggs, Calvados and vanilla in large bowl to blend.  Gently stir in dry ingredients.  Fold in the 1/2 cup melted butter.  Pour batter over apples in pan.  Bake until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 45 minutes.  Cool cake in pan 5 minutes.  Run small sharp knife around side of pan to loosen cake.  Turn cake out onto platter.

Serves 8

cheap eats

Another wedding weekend, another full belly.  I met up with Julie to hang out in my old digs, Maryland and specifically Baltimore, to attend a high school friend’s wedding that left us feeling really old.  So of course, we self-medicated with Italian pastries and an assortment of open-air goodies at the farmer’s market.   But first, I’ll tell you a secret.

There is only one place on Earth where the food is as comforting as my mother’s own and which I seek out every time I’m back near DC.  I couldn’t tell you how to get there or where to find it, I only know that once Linda took me there for Korean food many years ago, it’s been a deciding factor into schlepping down to Northern Virginia to visit her. “Hi Linda, I’m coming to visit you – oh, and get tofu stew.”  It’s called Lighthouse Tofu House in Annandale and of course after I moved from Maryland, they open one there, too.  So here’s how it works, you order a tofu stew from the short menu (with vegetable, mushroom, seafood, beef, or pork) and you help yourself to the really refreshing barley iced tea.  Next, you’ll be served a small bowl of cold kimchi soup with some daikon radish, cabbage and jalapeno and you’re going to try really hard not to finish it before everyone else at the table, because it’s amazingly delicious.  Then they’ll serve some panchan: small accompaniments of kimchi, pickled cucumber, bean sprouts, etc.  Lastly, you’ll get a piping hot cauldron filled to the brim with spicy tofu stew.  In an instant, your sinuses will be clear and everything will be extremely lucid.  You then crack your egg into the bowl and bury it under the tofu to poach.  You can add some fresh cooked rice to soak up the rich broth.  Let me assure you, you will not leave this place hungry.  I’m pretty sure the equivalent of an entire tofu block is in a bowl of stew and the more you eat, the more you can not stop, until you’re unbuttoning your pants so you can finish off the bowl.  At the end of it all, cool down with the delicious rice crust left over to soak in some barley tea.  There are other Korean dishes there, but I can not bring myself to have anything else.  And at 10 bucks for the whole meal, you can save your money for tomorrow – because that’s the next time you’ll be hungry again.

Now, Baltimore.  I love Baltimore – there’s a reason it’s called Charm City.  (Although, the charm is not immediately apparent, I understand).  But as a poor student, I have a lot of great food-related memories of a city that fed me well on the cheap.  Once you step away from the tourist trap that is Inner Harbor and explore the neighborhoods, the charm starts to become apparent.  Mount Washington’s creperie is owned by French ex-pats, Federal Hill’s Irish seafood stew will warm you up on a cold winter night, Mount Vernon’s Afghani jewel The Helmand is a heartbeat away from Hamid Karzai, Greektown’s souvlaki gets better one shop to the next, and Little Italy (truly little) has Vaccaro’s.  No matter how late, no dinner in Baltimore is complete without a pit stop at Vaccaro’s for some fresh filled cannoli.  Or in Julie and mine’s case, tiramisu and a chocolate napoleon.  Yes it was midnight and we weren’t even hungry but how can you pass up such sweet deliciousness?  I’m amazed we got the treats home, usually I end up eating everything in the car while still parked outside the shop.

My own corner of Baltimore was Charles Village.  When I wasn’t my usual lazy self, I dragged myself out of bed Saturday mornings over to the Waverly farmer’s market up the street.  In a hardened city where the grocery stores in poor neighborhoods don’t make fresh healthy food a real option, the Waverly farmer’s market offered some hope.  I’d grab some French rolls, a wedge of farmer’s cheese and whatever fruit was in season and shuffle back to my place with a portable breakfast.  If I couldn’t wait, I’d have the mushroom stand’s famous grilled portabella mushroom stuffed into a pita with feta cheese and greens, or the Asian food stand’s fresh mango and sticky rice and steamed shrimp shumai, or the curry shack’s flaky caribbean veggie samosa.  For a humble neighborhood market, it was surprisingly worldly – much like the city itself.  That was Saturday.

mushrooms, mushrooms, mushrooms!

steamed shrimp shumai and bean buns

caribbean veggie samosas

On Sunday, if I were really inclined to eat well (cheaply) for the rest of the week, I’d haul myself to the city-wide farmer’s market under the JFX expressway.  That behemoth gets thousands of people per weekend and there is no shortage of veggies, fruits, herbs, flowers, baked goods and prepared treats.  So with hours before my flight on Sunday, Julie and I stopped there to sample a bit of everything and cobbled together a delicious breakfast from a hodge-podge of delights.  All my favorite stands were there, plus a donut-maker, a crepe stand (5 dollars for a meal in your hand!) and someplace selling maryland-crab-jambalaya over omelets – how can you go wrong??  After we ate, I grabbed some clover honey, a loaf of sunflower seed bread, and a bag of raisin-studded tea cakes and stuffed them into my luggage to bring some Baltimore goodness back home with me.

under the JFX

over 20 varieties of apples

fresh baked loaves of artisan bread

colorful cauliflower

a rainbow of cherry tomatoes

pumpkins of all shapes

a whole lotta mums

sweet and savory crepes

fresh herbs

real baltimore 'hon (ey)s

epic fail-proof

Ok,  sometimes you just need some cookies around the house.  Something to dunk, something to nibble on, something to grab in-between on-the-go just-because.   Plus, baking them makes the kitchen smell wonderful.  This is my go-to recipe for anytime cookies because I always have these stock ingredients in the pantry, the recipe is easily halved, and it takes about 5 minutes to make except for the grueling wait for them to bake.  Some people love chocolate chip cookies, but I just find the chewy texture of oatmeal cookies very comforting.  These are not proper oatmeal raisin cookies because they lack any spices but they remind me of a big bowl of perfect oatmeal with golden brown sugar and dotted with butter.  I have no idea where this recipe came to me from, but you can not fail with this recipe – add in your most favorite mix-ins and trust me, they will come out perfect for your next cup of coffee.

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 and 1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoons salt

3 cups quick-cooking oats

2 cups your favorite mix-in  (like 1 cup m&ms and 1 cup your favorite chopped nuts, or 1 cup dark chocolate chunks and 1 cup dried cranberries.  basically, whatever floats your cookie-boat as long as it adds up to 2 cups total)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Cream the butter and sugars.  Beat in the eggs and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, co,mbine the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Blend the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients.  Add the oats and your 2 cups of mix-ins.  Drop by the tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets (you can line them with parchment paper for easy removal).  Bake about 12-14 minutes until a light golden brown.  Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack (or your mouth).

Makes 4 dozen cookies

remy would be proud

Ratatouille.  Yes, I loved the movie, too.  However, the dish delights me because it’s like soul food for vegetarians.  Rustic, comfy, simple food that is bursting with flavor without being smothered in cheese or hidden under sauce (although those types of comfort foods have their deeply satisfying merits, pierogie pizza – I’m looking at you).  Also the one-pot dish factor makes it enticing whether you own only one pot or the dishwasher is full.  You can serve it as a savory side dish to meat or fish, or eat it as we do: a big bowl full of the hearty stew with a scoop of cooked grains (quinoa or couscous or even rice will do).  Either way, just make sure you have plenty of fresh, hot French bread to sop up the delicious sauce!

Ratatouille

Adapted from The Essential Mediterranean Cookbook

6 vine-ripened tomatoes

1 eggplant (about 1lb)

1 zucchini (about 12 oz)

1 green pepper

1 red onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar

3 tablespoons fresh basil, shredded

Boil water in a medium sized pot.  Fill a bowl with ice cold water.  Use a sharp knife to cross the base of the tomatoes and plunge into the boiling water for 10 seconds, then into the cold water.  Peel the skins off away from the cross.  Chop roughly.

Chop eggplant, zucchini, and bell pepper into equal size pieces (about 3/4 inch).   Cook eggplant over medium heat in olive oil until soft but not brown, about 4 minutes, and then set aside.  Cook zucchini in olive oil until softened, about 3 minutes, and then set aside.  Cook pepper in olive oil for about 2 minutes and then set aside.

Add some more olive oil to the pot and cook the onion until soft, about 3 minutes.  Add the garlic, cayenne pepper, thyme, and bay leaves.  Stir and cook for one minute and add the eggplant, zucchini, and green pepper back to the pot.  Stir well and add the tomatoes, sugar, and vinegar.  Stir well again and simmer for about 20 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper and add fresh basil as you take it off the heat.

Serves 4-6