A Stack of Dishes

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breakfast

Healthy Labneh with Honeycomb and Seeded Crackers

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Homemade fat free labneh served with honeycomb and pistachios.

Homemade labneh has become a salvation. September has come barreling in with its usual madness. The days are whirlwinds of new routines, the sorrow as Summer fades, and the scramble to make sense of the new feel and rhythm of the season.

I am back to graduate school and this semester is packed. I’m only taking 3 classes, but they are all reading and writing heavy. This week alone was approx 400 pages of books and articles. It’s all wonderful stuff, and I am not the least bit unhappy about the subjects- it’s just well… whew! The tomes and pages are lined up at the end of my desk and they just haunt me. Reeeead meeeee. Reaaaad meee nooooooooow!

In another week or so I will get into my groove. I always do. Patterns will develop and a cadence and pace will fall in line and soon all will be in lock step. But for now- it’s more like organized chaos and that just freaks me out. Sometimes a lot, sometimes only a teeeny bit.

Cooking always brings me solace, and though it’s time away from demanding pages- it’s also a break from my thinking mind. There is quiet in my kitchen, and satisfaction in seeing something come to life in my hands as a result of time spent. There is something to that right? This is one of the reasons we like to cook, isn’t it? After putting in time and energy and your own particular flair into your food, there it is. On a plate. Looking all yummy and lovely. Look what I made!

And then, of course, you get to eat it.

Every day is theater. Every go round is a creation. Sure, not every day is award worthy, but hey, that’s okay- but I find it so soul satisfying. Sort of like coasting on a bike after long uphill climbs. What a blessing.

Homemade Labneh is a wonderful snack to have around. Making your own Labneh requires little more than time. Somewhere along the line I acquired a yogurt strainer (which I also use to make homemade ricotta btw). I dumped in a carton of Greek yogurt, covered it, and forgot it over the weekend. After 2 days I had lovely thick “cheese”. A very similar consistency to cream cheese with 0% saturated fat. Awesomeness. Nibble on it for your breakfast, or dress it up, like here, when you want to impress.

Rosemary fig seeded crackers

For now it’s the perfect snack for me to nibble on while I read. The Seeded Fig Rosemary Crackers above are the perfect accompaniment. I made these for a post earlier this year. I keep an unsliced loaf in the freezer and then defrost, slice and bake off when needed. There recipe is here. The beauty of that? I can slice off just as much or little as I need. (just a nice little aside).

The honeycomb I brought back from Thailand. Yes, it did ooze a bit into my luggage. Yes, I did have it wrapped up, but what can I say? It’s worth it. I am a bit excited about honey these days. I’m falling in love with it the way a sommelier can fall in love with Pinot Noirs. They are all so different tasting and aromatic. Sort of like golden jewels of deliciousness. My friend Gail Dosick has a friend who started a bee colony not too long ago (Thank you! the world needs people like you!) and I’m hoping I might get a bit of a taste of her first harvest. I hear it’s floral and divine. {fingers crossed}

Here come the holidays. This is a great go to. Lovely and rich tasting- but healthy and wonderful.

So no real recipe- like I said, strain a container of 0% Greek yogurt through a fine sieve or cheesecloth in the fridge for a day or so and you’re good to go. If you can’t find honeycomb regular honey is just fine.

Happy early Fall my darlings!

Summer Plum Almond Cake

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I’ve had a simple cake in mind made with fresh fruits. Something not too sweet, sort of on the line of a clafoutis, but not custardy and not too cake-y either. A treat I could snack on and not feel terrifically guilty about, and something that would be simple and easy to throw together.

I had been dreaming of peaches, but at the farmers market I spied some ruby jewel plums- just perfect for my little project.

I was not able to find a recipe for exactly what I was looking for, so I created my own. With delight and joy, it turned out quite nicely on the first go round. Certainly my years of cake making is a help, since batters are a balance of chemistry and there is a consistency that one can expect when all the elements are put together- but then again…

What I was also quite delighted about, was that it was the right amount of sweet and tart and chew that I was looking for- and so- I delightfully am sharing it with you.

The fruits turned out to be ripe to over ripe- perfect for my cake. They were not good for hand eating, and small enough to simply half and tuck into the batter. The only pain was de-stoning those tender babies (imagine ruby red pulp on fingers and my paring knife).

I did not reinvent the wheel here- and I am SURE there is a proper recipe out there for this- but my little beauty contains no butter or oil, and yet it’s moist and delicious. Like I said, a treat that you don’t have to feel too guilty about.

Summer Plum Almond Cake
serves 8
 
1c room temp milk
.75c sugar
3 large eggs, room temp
1t almond extract
1t vanilla extract
1.75 c flour
.5c ground almonds
1t baking powder
1t baking soda
.5t salt
1 pint of small plums, de-stoned and cut in half
 
 
Preheat oven to 350˚ and grease an 8″x8″ pan
 
In a side bowl combine milk, sugar, eggs and extracts and whisk smooth
 
In large bowl sift together flour, almonds, bs, bp and salt
 
Pour the milk mixture into the flour and whisk gently to combine
 
Pour batter into the pan, then arrange fruits, cut side up in the batter, not allowing them to sink below. If your fruits are too small and sink too deep, remove some of the batter and use to make extra small cupcakes
 
Bake for approximately 35 minutes until the top is golden brown and the center is springy to the touch
 
I am a touch baker. My years of baking have taught me that eggs at certain times of the year, humidity and devilish angels can affect baking times- so I’ve learned to go by feel and touch. Since oven temps and evenness of heat distribution can vary, I recommend you try this method too.
 
 
Enjoy! and Thanks once again for spending time with me.
 
 
 

Rosemary Orange Polenta Cake: Day 2 Irene’s Beans

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So glad everyone liked the donuts! Thank you for all your comments and tweets! The second installment is a delicious coffee cake, that takes no special ingredients and only minutes to get into the oven. Then once in the oven it fills the kitchen with a beautiful aroma of orange and rosemary.
For a little added texture I used a coarse cornmeal. This renders a hearty crunch to the crumb of the cake, and the sugar/rosemary topping adds a sweet crunch to the top. It might seem a bit rustic for some, but I like to sink my teeth into a good coffee cake, and the balanced flavors gives it some grace.
I used fresh rosemary from my window box, but dried would work fine here too. Rather than add rosemary into the batter, I left it for the topping, which infused the cake with the aromatic without overpowering it- allowing the zesty orange to shine through.
The coffee pairing for this (sounds like a wine pairing, doesn’t it?) is Irene’s Barundi Yandaro. It’s a medium bodied roast that Irene describes as having chocolate notes with spice, I sensed it as an earthier robust with spice and some sweet high notes. These beans come from East Africa where the coffee industry is emerging and taking itself very seriously. You can count on quality beans and a rich robust flavor.
The rosemary is a nice compliment to this coffee and the orange zest in the cake gives the sprightly lift it needs to highlight the top notes.
And for the record- if all this nuancing of flavors has you holding your head- forget about it! Enjoy the coffee, enjoy the cake- and have another slice on me.
Rosemary Orange Polenta Coffee Cake
10-12 slices
 
.5 c neutral olive oil
2 large eggs, room temp
1c sugar
zest of one orange and it’s juice
1.5c all purpose flour
.25 c coarse cornmeal
2t baking powder
1t salt
 
2T rosemary
4T sugar
mini pinch of salt
 
Preheat oven to 350˚ and prepare either an 8″ cake pan or 4″ wide loaf pan. Grease pan with oil and line with parchment paper (I used a paper bag) and grease that too.
 
In a large bowl, combine the flour, zest, cornmeal, bp and salt. Stir thoroughly.
 
In separate bowl whisk together olive oil, eggs, sugar and orange juice.
 
Pour the egg mixture into the dry and gently but thoroughly mix batter.
 
Spoon into the prepared pan and distribute evenly.
 
On cutting board combine the sugar and rosemary. Mince the rosemary with the sugar. This is why the fresh is so lovely, it will impart some of it’s oils and aromas directly into the sugar. Sprinkle this mixture over the top of the cake.
 
Bake in the center of your oven for approx 40 mins until the center of the cake springs back to the touch or a tester comes out dry.
 
Cool for 5 mins then gently, so as not to mess the sugar topping, remove the cake and cool on rack until ready to serve.
 
When I stored my leftover cake I simply wrapped foil around the sides, leaving the top exposed. The cake may stale a little overnight, which is fine for a coffee cake, but more importantly, it preserves the crunch of the topping, which is definitely the best part.