Orangette's Wedding Cake

On Orangette/Molly Wizenberg: I've been a huge fan due to my old roommate and reading her book just made me a even bigger fan!! Another friend of mine saw her at Gregoire's and emailed her... too bad they didn't become friends, since I would have loved to meet her! I so want to go to DELANCY in seattle!!!

So, after reading A Homemade Life by Orangette's Molly Wizenberg, the first thing I wanted to make was her chocolate cake. Granted it was also her wedding cake and a cake she calls "the winning hearts and minds cake," I had great expectations. The recipe calls for 5 eggs and 1 tablespoon of AP flour something I have never run across with cakes. (I'm a not big cake fan, pie any day over cake, but I was intrigued as I usually am with reading new and different recipes!)

I decided to make this cake for a friend's belated birthday, she had strep and the flu over her birthday weekend and I thought I should add guinea pig to Eunice's attempt at Orangette's cake recipe. 

You are only supposed to use one 8" round cake pan but I was afraid it would puff up too much but then again I wasn't thinking about the ingredients so I put 1/5 of the batter into another cake pan so my sister who kept putting her finger in the batter could try some. BUT remember there wasn't any leavening agents! NOTE: all the pictures are of the cake from extra cake pan (1/5th of the normal size).

The Winning Hearts and Minds Cake
from A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg

Ingredients

• 7 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 C + 2 T granulated sugar
• 5 eggs
• 1 T unbleached AP flour

Directions 

1. Preheat the oven to 375F

2. Butter a 8" round cake pan, line the bottom with a round of parchment paper and butter the paper (this is important in order to have better ease at removing the cake at the end)

3. Put chocolate and butter in a microwavable bowl, microwave on high for 30 sec at a time, stirring until smooth (OR use a double broiler to do the same)

4. When mixture is smooth, add sugar and incorporate well

5. Set batter aside to cool for 5 min

6. Add the eggs one by one, stirring well after each

7. Add flour and stir to mix well (batter should be dark and silky)

8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for about 25 minutes (set the timer to 20 min and check cake every 2 min). The top is lightly crackled and edges are puffed and the center only jiggles VERY slightly.

9. Remove the cake and cool for 15 minutes in the pan

10. Carefully turn it out of the pan then flip onto a serving plate so the crackly side faces up

11. Cool completely

END product: a very THIN, but very moist, dense CHOCOLATY cake like a flourless chocolate cake but with a subtle lightness. Molly says to serve some lightly sweetened with whipped cream.

** All the pictures where taken of the cake made from 1/5th the batter so the cake should not be as thin as pictured above **

- Eunice 

Moussaka

About a year ago, my boyfriend introduced me "Greektown" in Chicago and took me to this fabulous restaurant called Pegasus. I couldn't pronounce one thing on the menu! Greek food to me was kebabs, falafel, and gyros. Luckily, he knew what he was doing and ordered for us.

When the food finally arrived, I was blown away by one dish in particular: the moussaka. Moussaka is a dish based on ground meat and eggplant layered with a bechamel sauce. It...was...unbelievable. So unexpected, so unassuming, and oh so wonderful. I had never had such flavors present in a meat dish before. It reminded me of Christmas. From then on, I have ordered moussaka at every Greek restaurant I go to, but nothing compares to the one at Pegasus....

...until now. I have been experimenting with different dishes over the summer, but this one seemed the most daunting. I ended up using two different recipes for reference, which can be found here and here. It came out great! It did not look as pretty as Pegasus' dish, but the familiar flavors were all there. It's just so good. :)

Moussaka
(adapted from the Gastronomer's Guide to Moussaka)

Ingredients

For the eggplant layers:

• 3 long globe eggplants
• coarse sea salt (I used Kosher)
  
• olive oil (~1/3 - 1/2 cup)

For the meat filling:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped (I used around 5-6 cloves because I love garlic)
  
• 1 pound ground turkey (It's traditional to use beef or lamb, but I had turkey on hand)
  
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes (I used fresh crushed grape tomatoes)
  
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon parsley
  
• coarse sea salt
• freshly ground pepper

For the béchamel sauce:

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups fat-free milk
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• coarse sea salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 6 ounces pecorino Romano, grated

Directions

To make the eggplant layers, cut off ends and cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch thick slices. Liberally salt both sides and let stand in a colander set over the sink for at least 30 minutes. Cover them with an inverted plate that is weighted down by a heavy can or jar. Place the colander in the sink so that excess moisture can be drawn out. Rinse with water and pat dry.


Heat oil in a large heavy-bottomed sauté pan on medium-high. Fry eggplant slices for 3 to 5 minutes per side until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

To make the meat filling, heat the butter and oil in a large heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the turkey and cook until brown, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add the wine, tomatoes, tomato paste and cinnamon. Simmer until liquid has reduced, about 15-20 minutes. Add the parsley and season with salt and pepper.


To make the béchamel, melt butter over low heat. Using a whisk, add flour to melted butter whisking continuously to make a smooth paste. Allow the flour to cook for a minute but do not allow it to brown.
Add warmed milk to mixture in a steady stream, whisking continuously.
Simmer over low heat until it thickens a bit but does not boil.
Add half the grated cheese and continue to whisk until melted. Add the nutmeg and season with salt and white pepper.
To assemble, layer the bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch greased baking dish with the eggplant slices, making sure to overlap edges. Spread with half the meat mixture. Add another layer of eggplant slices and spread with the remaining meat mixture. Cover with remaining eggplant slices. Spread with half the béchamel and sprinkle with remaining grated cheese. Bake from 30 to 40 minutes until bubbling around the edges of the pan. Remove and let cool for 30 minutes. Serve squares with remaining béchamel sauce and either homemade or store-bought marinara sauce on the side. Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

Before the oven.

And after.

-Traci

Gingery Zucchini Bread

Monday morning and I felt like that Fall was finally approaching. The sky was grey and my feet walking barefoot around the house were a bit nippy and I wanted to bake. I looked around the house and saw the huge zucchini we got from our neighbor's garden. A couple of weeks ago we received 3 of these foot long summer squashes. My mom had already made a zucchini meal of grilled zucchini, roasted zucchini and korean zucchini pancakes a week before and froze the second one.

I was fascinated by 101 cookbook's zucchini bread - the additions of crystallized ginger and walnuts seemed like a wonderful addition so thought I'd give it a try. Then I found out that there was only 2T of butter... But I was set on making THIS zucchini bread... So I substituted 6T with Smart Balance butter spread.... more on this decision later.

I cut down the amount of walnuts to 1/4C because my mom hates it when I steal all the nuts, 1/3 C of crystallized ginger because I was unsure if I'd like it, and 1t of curry powder because I am a conventionalist at heart and 1T curry powder seemed too much! I also did not have poppy seeds or lemon zest.

Zucchini Bread 
Recipe from 101 Cookbooks

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/3 cup crystallized ginger, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups grated zucchini with skin, squeeze out the moisture and fluff up
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon curry powder

2 loaf pans (5x9 inches)

Directions 

1. Preheat oven to 350F

2. Butter and dust loaf pans (or Pam cooking spray with flour)

3. In a small bowl combine walnuts and ginger

4. Beat butter until fluffy using a stand mixer (or hand mixer in a separate bowl). Add sugars and beat until no longer crumbly. Add eggs one at a time. Stir in vanilla. Add zucchini lowering the speed.

5. In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and curry powder.

6. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in two batches.

7. Fold in walnuts and ginger by hand. (If you like save some to sprinkle on top of the loves.)

8. Divide batter between the two loaf pans.

9. Bake for 45-50 minutes on the middle rack. 

10. Remove and cool for about 15 minutes. Take them out of the pan to cool completely.

The result: a soft moist zucchini bread with the subtle surprise of the crystalized ginger and crunch of the walnuts, however a bit on the salty side. Perhaps it was the Smart Balance butter spread or 1 teaspoon is a bit much. I believe that the Smart Balance butter spread also affected the crumb making it a bit loose and crumbly. So lesson: USE REAL BUTTER.

-Eunice