very veggie bolognese with fresh pappardelle

After 2 straights weeks of sun in santa cruz (heavenly, divine, glorious sun), it's started to rain, and it doesn't look like it's going to stop. while this doesn't please me, per se, it doesn't rile me, either. it's hard to get work done when it's 75 degrees and sunny outside, and I was having a hard time getting excited about beets and carrots when my whole being was yelling strawberries and corn on the cob. so in honor of today's drizzly forecast, jake and I bundled up (read: scarf, no coat. god I'm going to miss this.) and headed to the farmer's market to make a vegetarian bolognese to go with the fresh pappardelle we bought after tasting wine and eating cheese this saturday in scott's valley. yeah, I know: tough life.


seeing as the recipe I found on epicurious called for almost 3 pounds of meat (all of which sounded delicious, but jake is a non-carnivore), my task was to create a vegetarian-friendly version of the sauce that didn't lack any of the flavor and robustness I think of from a perfect-for-a-rainy-night bolognese. so I went mushroom and eggplant. it was an experiment, to be sure, but Jake declared it "one of the best things you've ever made," so that was nice. the mushrooms were these lovely, velvety shitakes; you could cut theses things with a butter knife if you wanted. the sauce passed the final test, which is that jake, an admitted over-salter, didn't reach for the salt shaker once. and I had seconds. but that's really not rare at all.

my version of the ingredients:

1 1/2 large onions, chopped
4 celery ribs, chopped
3 medium carrots, finely chopped
5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/4 cup + 2 or so tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 japanese eggplant, unpeeled and sliced
approx. 1/2 lb. shitake mushrooms, sliced
5 or so peeled tomatoes and juices (I used these)
1 cup whole milk
1 cup red wine
1 cup water
fresh rosemary
copious salt + and not so copious pepper
1 lb fresh pappardelle (we got ours here)

what I did:

Cook onions, celery, carrot, and garlic in oil in a 6- to 8-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 15 minutes.

Briefly saute eggplant in olive oil, salt to taste, and add to the pot. Repeat with the mushrooms.

Let simmer and hang out for a while with the onions and co. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Stir in tomatoes, milk, wine, water, and rosemary and gently* simmer, covered, until sauce is thickened, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.**

* I simmered rather aggressively on a high heat because my boyfriend gets cranky when he gets hungry, and he was hungry.
** or, about 30 minutes, if you have a cranky dinner partner.

the six-and-a-half stick cake

food never ceases to amaze me, especially the food that my friends -- in their tiny, ugly kitchens just like mine -- manage to create with very little hoop-la or to-do.
it's like we've all been cooking all our lives, or had the whole day luxuriously stretched out before us to bake and whisk and taste and tweak and salt and sift. this is usually not so.
we've all got jobs (or some bill-paying scheme that requires at least a modicum of attention), and other friends, and books to read, and places to see. so, it was with familiar wonderment that I beheld a behemoth chocolate cake a guest at a new year's day dinner transported from brooklyn to the east village, via subway, beautiful in its iced glory and mounted on a glass cake stand.

the cake wasn't all looks, either. it was delicious. three chocolate tiers, with a salted caramel frosting between each layer, topped with a caramel-and-chocolate ganache and a liberal sprinkling of fleur de sel. pas mal, n'est ce pas?

despite the massive amount of leftovers at my apartment from the new year's brunch we'd hosted that morning (think bagels for life), I somehow ended up going home with a slice so large it had to lie down, and was really more like a cake slab, or a wedge. we ate it all, and I scored the recipe for jake's quickly approaching (and now passed) birthday.

in making it I was delighted to find that the cake contains up to six-and-a-half sticks of butter in all (4 alone for the ganache), which is undoubtedly responsible in large part for its immense delicousness.
mine did not turn out nearly as pretty as the original (I am, admittedly, a sloppy icer), but it was as good as I remember,
and I've got nothing against ugly.


here's the facts:

for the chocolate cake layers:
3/4 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 cup hot water
2/3 cup sour cream
2 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (I used 1 stick of butter)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

for the salted caramel:
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon fleur de sel
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup (I used agave)
1/4 cup sour cream

for the whipped caramel ganache frosting:
1 pound dark chocolate (60-70% cacao) chopped
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, soft but cool, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
to assemble the cake:
2 teaspoons fleur de sel, plus more for garnish

to make the cake layers:
preheat oven to 325. butter 3 8-inch round cake pans, dust with flour and knock out excess flour.
in a medium bowl, combine the cocoa powder, hot water, and sour cream and set aside to cool.
sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.
in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and shortening on medium speed until ribbonlike, about 5 minutes. add the sugars and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, then add the vanilla and beat until incorporated. scrape down the bowl and mix again for 30 seconds.
add the flour mixture, alternating with the cocoa mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.
divide the batter among the prepared pans and smooth the tops. bake for 35-40 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. invert the cakes onto the rack and let cool completely.

to make the salted caramel:
in a small saucepan, combine the cream and fleur de sel. bring to a simmer over very low heat until the salt is dissolved.
meanwhile, keeping a close eye on the cream mixture so it doesn't burn, in a medium saucepan, combine 1/4 cup water, the sugar, and corn syrup, stirring them together carefully so you don't splash the sides of the pan. cook over high heat until an instant read thermometer reads 350 degrees. remove from heat and let cool for 1 minute. (I don't have a thermometer, so I waited until the mixture has large bubbles on the surface.)
add the cream mixture to the sugar mixture. whisk in the sour cream. let the caramel cool to room temperature, then transfer to an air tight container and refrigerate until you are ready to assemble the cake.

make the whipped caramel ganache frosting:
put the chocolate in a large heatproof bowl and set aside.
in a small saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer over very low heat.
meanwhile, keeping a close eye on the cream mixture, in a medium saucepan combine 1/4 cup water, the sugar, and corn syrup, stirring them together carefully so you don't splash the sides of the pan. cook over high heat until an instant read thermometer reads 350 degrees. remove from heat and let the caramel cool for 1 minute. (same deal with bubbles as before.)
add the cream to the caramel and stir to combine. stir slowly for 2 minutes, then pour the caramel over the chocolate. let the caramel and chocolate sit for 1 minute, then, starting in the center of the bowl, and working your way out to the edges, slowly stir the chocolate and caramel mixture in a circle until the chocolate is completely melted. let the mixture cool, then transfer it to the bowl of an electric mixture fitted with the paddle attachment.
mix on low speed until the bowl feels cool to the touch. increase the speed to medium high and gradually add the butter, beating until thoroughly incorporated. scrape down the bowl and beat on high speed until the mixture is fluffy.

assemble the cake:
place one cake layer on a serving platter. spread 1/4 cup of the caramel over the top. let the caramel soak into the cake, then spread 3/4 cup of the ganache frosting over the caramel. sprinkle 1 teaspoon of the fleur de sel over the frosting, then top with the second cake layer. spread with caramel frosting and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon fleur de sel. then top with the third layer. spread with caramel. crumb coat the cake and put the cake in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to firm up the frosting. frost the sides and top with the remaining frosting. garnish with a sprinkle of fleur de sel.

red, white, and fennel: inauguration day pizza

After Jake's 25+ mile bike ride and my hour and half long yoga class this morning (less taxing, I'll admit), we were hungry. luckily, when I'm not communing with my soul while stretching and bending (my friend Megan calls yoga "tilting," which I think sums it up quite nicely), I sometimes think about my next meal (really, no surprise there). so the sourdough pizza dough I bought at the westside santa cruz farmer's market Saturday morning was on my mind during shavasana and my bike ride home, and I had a master plan for putting it to use. this was handy timing since we needed to use the dough by tomorrow before escorting it to the freezer.

last Wednesday I purchased 8 lovely red and golden beets from the Dirty Girl Produce stand (this time from the downtown santa cruz FM), which I proceeded to roast, slice, and ooh/ahh at without really knowing what I wanted to do with them. a salad? a beet and goat cheese sandwich? a lasagna layer?

a pizza. It ended up becoming a fortuitous leftovers pizza that evolved the further back I looked in the refrigerator. The end result was a Beet and Feta Pizza with Caramelized Onions, Fennel, and Garlic. not bad for a Tuesday lunch on the fly.

Jake and I ate it while watching Obama's speech, and I cried a little because it was so good (the moment in history...and the pizza).




here's what I used:

- fresh sourdough pizza dough
- 8 or so smallish red and golden beets, roasted and sliced
- delicious feta
- 1/2 an onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- about 1 tablespoon or so chopped fennel

here what I did:

- when I got home I cranked the oven up to 400, lightly oiled and floured a cookie sheet and pushed the dough into rectangular pizza shape with my hands, and put the dough in the oven.
- meanwhile, I heated a pan with a generous splash of olive oil and a healthy dollop of butter, sliced the onion, and threw it in to start caramelizing. I minced the garlic clove and sliced the fennel, and reminded myself not to forget about them.
- after about 10 minutes I took out the dough, layered my beets in rows, and crumbled feta abundantly.
- I put the pizza back in the oven, and added the garlic and fennel to the onion (bathing happily in its olive oil and butter bath), tossed them around for a bit and turned the heat off.
- I drizzled the onion and friends onto the pizza, crumbled the rest of the feta on top, and put it all back in the oven for a final bake.
- about 5 minutes later, when the dough was golden brown on the edges I took it out, sprinkled lightly with sea salt (I had been warned that the dough was already salted) and drizzled a touch more olive oil on top. never hurts.