Rhubarb Snacking Cake, Quilts and Food Art

Did you all have a wonderful 4th of July? Are you now back at work and sad that this week isn't shortened by a day off? Have the 105F days trapped you at home and forced you to finish those projects that have been not-so-patiently waiting your attention? Are you running out of post-its to remind yourself of everything you need to still get done? If so, then I know just how you feel. I'm going to try and pack a lot of stuff into this post, so please bear with me, I'm about to get wordy.

Last Wednesday it was too hot outside to even contemplate venturing out, so when my friend called and asked me if I wanted to come with her to the fair and then chill in her pool, I silently battled with my desire to get out of the house and the very realistic fear of melting and then declined. "I don't want you to come if you're going to complain about the heat the entire time anyways", she said. And I certainly can't blame her. When I get hot I get cranky, whiny, testy, and generally a huge pain to be around. I think I lasted exactly two hours at home after that phone call before I started getting cabin fever. I got a ton of things done and the walls were starting to close in, so I grabbed my bathing suit and a towel and took my friend up on the second part of her offer.



The point of this story is that I have one wall AC unit and when it gets this hot outside there is NO WAY that I'll be even coming close to the oven, let alone turning it on. I'm a bit ashamed, but for the last two weeks I'd been surviving entirely off of leftovers, food my mom sends me home with when I visit, and cereal. But, since I now have some free time that isn't spent putzing around in the kitchen, I finally had time to go through and edit some photos of past projects, not to mention actually finish some of those same projects. And now I am finally ready to share with you this amazing Rhubarb Snack bar recipe that I made a month ago out of a small fortune in farmer's market rhubarb.



I didn't modify this recipe one tiny bit - oh okay, I may have upped the rhubarb and lemon a tiny bit, but my crumb soaked the extra up and didn't get as crispy, so I don't recommend doing that. I think that the woman behind Smitten Kitchen is amazing and none of her recipes have ever let me down. And since I don't think I can add a single thing to her recipe or instructions, even though I did try, I'm just going to give you the link and send you over there.



If you still have rhubarb available by you, please give this recipe a try. The bars came out tender, not too sweet, full of tangy flavor and all in all delicious. I dropped most of them off at my sister's office for the poor stiffs that were working late that day, and saved a few for my friend to snack on at work. And then tried not to devour the few remaining squares in one sitting.



I can't urge you enough to go home and make this. It's delicious. And speaking of delicious! Look at what the amazing lady behind The Lunch Box Project did with my Honey and Peaches Ice Cream recipe from last year:

Isn't it adorable? I met Lisa Orgler at Camp Blogaway a few months back and in addition to being a great cook, she has an entire section of her site dedicated to her foodie illustrations. I think she did a beautiful job. Please go to her site and check out her other drawings, she's fantastic!

Also, look what I've been up to while the oven has been off:



Something about the proximity of my birthday urges me to get as many of the things I'd been procrastinating on crossed off the list as possible. As if I have to answer to someone when I turn one year older to account for my progress over the past year. I started clearing out my house shortly after the new year, but at some point two or three months ago, I'd lost steam. With the birthday quietly looming and the to-do list quietly growing, I'd recently decided to get my butt back into gear and start getting things done. A big part of it was clearing out my giant craft closet and either finishing projects or getting rid of things that will never be used again.



This all resulted in a quilting marathon and since I had a ton of fabric and I've been getting better and faster at it, and thanks to a fantastic post by Make it and Love it a few weeks back I'd decided to add one more project to the list. After reading all the amazing stories about how big of an impact a small thing like a handmade quilt can make in the life of a sick child, I stopped crying, covered my living room with all my fabric, and picked out the most colorful and most fun pieces. I requested the free kit from Quilts for Kids to use as a template and added three more quilts out of my own fabric.



A few days ago everything was assembled, stitched, washed, dried, folded and packed and ready to go. I know this is a baking/cooking blog and not one for crafting, but I can't describe how great it feels to do this and I strongly urge you to ask for a kit and do this too. If you can sew in a straight line, you can do it and the reward in the end is worth all the time and effort invested.

Vegetable Casserole

No family dinner that I've ever hosted has ever been complete without the veggie casserole I had been making ever since my mom let me help make dishes for the table. The recipe comes out of an ancient book called "What's Cooking?". I have no idea where the book came from and trying to find it online these days is practically impossible, but thinking back to those years it was probably found at a garage sale for a quarter. In those penny-pinching days lots of things came from a garage sale. I loved that book because all the recipes were easy, each recipe had a picture, and in every chapter it had a breakdown of some complicated techniques in a full spread. I remember following the recipe to the letter and being extremely proud when my mother would ask for seconds.

I'd changed the recipe many times over the years, adding different veggies or mixing up the spices. Every time I organize a family dinner though, when my mother inevitably calls me to discuss the menu, and after I reassure her 17 times that no, she really doesn't need to bring anything (she always does anyways, and I'm always not-so-secretly happy about that) she always asks "are you making my pie?". It's not a necessarily pretty thing, though I do try layering the tomatoes on top to make it look better, but there are mushrooms in the slightly salty crust, it's full of veggies and it's delicious. Plus it makes my mom happy.



Vegetable Casserole
Adapted from an ancient copy of "What's Cooking? vol 2"

1/3 cup butter
1 1/2 white mushrooms, finely chopped
1 1/4 cups Saltines, crushed
1 onion, half diced and half sliced
1 zucchini, diced*
2 roma tomatoes, sliced
4 eggs
1 Tbsp flour
3/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 tsp dried basil or a few leaves fresh, minced
1 Tbsp garlic powder
3 Tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. In a skillet, melt margarine, sautee mushrooms and diced onion. Take off heat and add saltines, mixing well.
3. Line a deep 9" pie plate with the mixture, spreading over the bottom and the sides and pressing it in to make a crust. Cover with sliced onion and zucchini, and top with tomato slices.
4. In a bowl mix eggs with the remaining ingredients, except for Parmesan, and whisk. Pour into the crust, sprinkle with the Parmesan and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until the pie looks set in the middle. Serve hot.

* You can make this with any kind of vegetable you like. Sometimes I add more mushrooms into the filling (my family goes crazy over mushrooms), sometimes I caramelize the onions in the filling. Just be sure to either shred or pre-cook any firmer vegetables for which 30 min is not enough to cook through and you'll be just fine.

Frozen Chocolate Mousse Bombe

I had made this cake for the first time almost 10 years ago as a birthday present for a family friend. I had boxed it up, put a chocolate butterfly or two on top - in those days I put chocolate butterflies on everything -  and sent it over with my parents. One thing led to another, one conversation flowed into the next, and between toasts (we're Russian, so most occasions call for a LOT of toasts), between shared stories, and between more toasts, the cake was left in the freezer untasted. A few days later I received a thank you note and a phone call telling me how amazing the cake was. My father got a similar call, which prompted him to remember that he never got a chance to even try the pretty cake! How horrible! How unfair! He had the cake in his very hands and he literally let it slip through his fingers. My father can be very dramatic about cake.



For 10 years whenever we'd talk about the cakes I'd made for different occasions and my refusal to make a cake twice when there are so many new recipes to try, he never forgot that chocolate dome he never got to see the inside of...see with a spoon of course. Every couple of months he'd turn to me with a pout and remind me how there was that one cake he never got to try. So this year for his birthday I'd decided that he had waited long enough. This was an important birthday, one of those with a zero at the end and a growing number in the beginning and there were people gathering. Lots of people. This cake is rich and while the original says that it makes 8 servings, I think it can comfortably feed 12 chocoholics if not more. But I got nervous that there wouldn't be enough so I scoured the house for proper shaped bowls and made 3. Two of them were demolished. We sliced a generous piece for each guest and despite the fact that there was a ton of food and no one was hungry by the time dessert came, all my sisters had to do was whisper "Anna made that, you have to try it" and everyone grabbed a spoon. The few people that couldn't finish their slices were saved by their neighbor's spoons and all plates came back clean. And most importantly, even though the cake paled in comparison to the joy of having all his family and friends near, my dad was happy. Especially since he got a whole cake all to himself at the end of the night. No way was this one going to slip through again!



Frozen Chocolate Mousse Bombe
adapted very slightly from Marcel Desaulniers' Celebrate with Chocolate: Totally Over-the-Top Recipes. Really though, you should get this book. It's full of some really amazing recipes and even though it was published 10 years ago, they're just as current as anything else you can find on the web these days. 

Cake:
1/4 lb (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus an extra tsp for greasing the pan
8 oz good quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 eggs
1 egg yolk (don't dump the white, you'll need it)
1 Tbsp sugar

Mousse:
8 oz good quality dark chocolate (divided), coarsely chopped
1/4 cup freshly brewed coffee
1/4 cup honey
4 Tbsp sugar
3 egg whites (you can use one of the ones left over from the cake)
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups pecans, toasted. Pick out about half cup of pretty ones and chop the rest.

Glaze:
8 oz good quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped*
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbsp unsalted butter

Cake: 1. Preheat the oven to 300F.
2. Line a 9" springform pan with parchment and grease the bottom and sides with a bit of butter. Set aside.
3. Melt the chocolate and the butter in a glass bowl in the microwave in 20 second increments, stirring at each break until everything is smooth. Set aside.
4. Place the eggs, yolk and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a balloon whip and whisk on high until light in color and slightly thickened (about 5 min). Using a rubber spatula fold in the chocolate and butter mixture just until it's incorporated. Try not to mix too much or you'll lose the volume you just whipped into it.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spread evenly and bake for about 25 min, or until a toothpick stuck into the middle comes up with a few crumbs but definitely not covered in raw batter. Cool completely at room temp before removing from the pan. Set aside.

Mousse:
1. Melt 5 oz of the chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave at 20 second intervals , stirring at each stop until it's smooth. Set aside.
2. Combine coffee, honey, and 2 Tbsps of the sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil it, stirring occasionally, until it reaches 240F (about 5 min).
3. While the syrup is cooking combine the egg whites and the remaining 2 Tbsps sugar in a bowl of a mixer and when the syrup is almost ready, start whipping the egg whites on high and whip until soft peaks form, about 1 minute. Your syrup should be ready now, so lower the speed to low and slowly add it to the egg whites. Once it's all in there turn up the speed to high and whip until very thick (about 4 min).
4. Carefully fold in the melted chocolate.
5. In a separate bowl whisk the heavy cream on medium-high until stiff peaks form, then fold that into the chocolate meringue until it's uniform. Keep in the fridge until needed.
6. Melt the remaining 3 oz chocolate the same way as before, let it cool a bit and transfer to a large bowl. Add 2 cups of the chocolate mousse and the chopped pecans. Fold with a rubber spatula until combined and keep in the fridge until needed.

Assembly 1:
1. Lightly spray the inside of a large bowl, which should be about 9" in diameter at the top, with Pam, or some other vegetable oil spray, and line with plastic wrap, making sure to leave lots of it hanging over the sides.
2. Spoon the chocolate honey mousse into the bowl and use an offset spatula to make sure it's spread evenly and that there are no air bubbles. Pour the chocolate pecan mixture over the top and smooth that as well. Top with the cake and press down a bit to make sure there are no air bubbles or gaps trapped in between. Cover the top with the ends of the plastic wrap, adding more if needed and put in the freezer. It will need to chill at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.

Glaze:
1. Place the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl.
2. Heat the heavy cream, honey, and butter in a small saucepan over medium high heat and stir to combine. DO NOT WALK AWAY or the milk will boil over. As soon as you see little bubbles at the edges take it off the heat and pour over the chocolate. Let it stand for a minute and then stir with a whisk until smooth.

Assembly 2:
1. Place a cooling rack on a baking sheet.
2. Remove the bowl from the freezer, unfold the plastic wrap from the bottom and flip onto a 9" cake circle placed on top of the cooling rack. If the dome doesn't pop right out of the bowl, soak a towel in hot water, wrap it around the bottom and sides of the bowl and hold it there for a few seconds, then try to unmold again. It should pop right out, but you may need to tug gently at the plastic wrap to help it along.
3. Pour the glaze over the bombe, letting excess drip down onto the baking sheet. Transfer to a plate or a bigger cake circle and stick it back in the freezer to set for 20 min. In the mean time scrape up the glaze that dripped onto the baking sheet into a bowl and let it chill in the fridge for 20 min.
4. Transfer the chilled extra glaze to a pastry bag fitted with a star tip, pull out the bombe from the freezer and pipe a border around the bottom, alternating with the reserved pretty pecan halves.
5. Store the bombe in the freezer, but take it out 20 min or so before serving to let it soften a bit, otherwise it will be really hard to cut. Enjoy!


* Yes, there is a pound and a half of chocolate in this cake. So what?

Raspberry, Fig and Port Jam - Chicago Food Exchange

Last week I made the first jam of this season. It was a raspberry, fig and port jam that I read about in this tiny kit that my sister gave me for New Year's a few years back. The kit had cute little tags, stickers, fabric lids, etc. All the things one would need to make a jar of jam adorable beyond words. The kit has been used up a long time ago, but in my recent cleaning crusade I'd located the small recipe book that came with it and this was the very first recipe. I happened to have everything but the figs already on hand (what home is complete without at least one bottle of port stashed away?), so I picked that up on the way home and whipped up a batch to bring to with me to a foodie exchange, along with several packages of my French Granola.



There is this wonderful event that has started in Chicago a few months ago called Chicago Food Swap, and this past weekend I was able to make it to their third meeting, graciously hosted by the kind folks at the Savory Spice Shop. The idea behind this event, the brain child of Emily and Vanessa, is to bring together a group of people and provide them with an environment in which to trade/barter their homemade goods with each other. There is no money being exchanged and no one is obligated to trade with anyone else, but of course that's the point of coming in the first place, and the actual trades are the best part.

The turnout was great, I think there were almost 30 people that came and brought goodies. We were given some time to mingle, walk around to see and taste the goodies, and to write down suggested bids on bits of paper next to the items. After everyone had a chance to circle everything several times, the bidding was opened and when the dust settled I had traded all my jars and packages and had a great big bag of loot to take home with me, including two of those little Sherry Poppyseed cakes in the picture above.



I also got a box of these whoopie pies, which were amazing...and didn't survive the day. One was carrot cake with cream cheese filing and the other was chocolate with marshmallow filling. I can't believe I've never had whoopie pies before this, it's like taking two of the best parts of a cupcake (the tops, naturally) with frosting inside. Yum!

The green chutney and the tangy vinaigrette were fantastic.



An entire table was chock full of amazing baked goodies. I'd snagged one of those beautiful pretzel bread buns on top there and had it for lunch the next day.

One day I will learn what chutney is and decide on whether or not I like it, but there were several jars of it up for trade, along with a precious few bottles of rose syrup. I think I'll need to raid my sister's rose garden and make some for myself.



Someone else made a table full of fudge and caramel candies.

Someone even brought heirloom tomato plants! I didn't get any since I have nowhere to plant them and even if I did, I have a notoriously bad habit of killing plants, so they went to better homes than mine. I did snag one of those jars up front in the picture above. They were mildly spicy pickled carrots and they were amazing! They were still crunchy and perfectly pickled and had a very nice garlicky spice to them. Once the carrots were gone I marinated some chicken in the brine and roasted the little piece of garlic right along with it. Nothing went to waste.



There was an entire table full of jalapeno spiked jams, but since my own jam pantry is still practically overflowing, I decided to pass on those. Don't those fabric tops look adorable though?

There were jars of cola syrups, lemon salts, lemon sugars and spicy honey mustard (one of which went home with me too). There were cookies and cakes and pickles and even some jars of pre-cooked oatmeal. I also snagged a beautiful mini-loaf of freshly baked challah, half of a whiskey cake, a jar of cinnamon spiced plums, and a jar of apricot peach butter. All in all, a really successful haul and I'm really looking forward to the next exchange at the end of August, though now that I saw what people bring, I think I'll need to step up my own game quite a bit to get more awesome trades next time. I mean, what do you bring when everyone makes their own jam? I have a few weeks to come up with the answer.



Raspberry, Fig and Port Jam
Pretty Pantry Gifts by Tara Duggan


1 cup dried black mission figs
1 cup port
4 cups raspberries
3 cups sugar
2 Tbsps fresh lemon juice

1. Chop figs finely and soak in port for about 30 minutes.
2. Combine the raspberries, sugar and lemon juice in a large heavy bottom pot and crush the berries with a spoon or a potato masher. Add the figs and the port.
3. Bring the pot to a rolling boil and cook until reduced by half and the jam thickens. Stop cooking when it's still a tiny bit runny since the figs cook into paste and end up thickening the end product by quite a bit. Unless you like your jams thicker, like I do, in which case do whatever you want.
4. Pour the jam into sterilized jars and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Camp Blogaway Part 2 and Bacon Cheddar Asparagus Quiche

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend full of delicious grilled food, ice cold drinks, some time by the pool and most of all a much needed rest (even if the actual Memorial Day is today). I, for one, tried to fit all those into my Monday and since I'd actually crossed a lot of todo's off my list on Saturday and Sunday, I felt zero guilt about doing nothing all day long. Relaxing felt almost as good as actually getting things done. And this is exactly how "I'll tell you more tomorrow" has turned into "Oops, it's been a week!". But don't worry, I didn't forget and since there's still so much more to tell about my Camp Blogaway trip, here you go, without any further ado:

I can't believe I wrote an entire post about camp without introducing you to the woman behind it all, our Fearless Leader: Patti Londre. A nationally recognized food PR and marketing expert, she writes a blog called Worth The Whisk, manages a marketing firm and I'm sure a dozen other things in addition to organizing this yearly camping event, and still find time to travel the globe. She kept the entire event running smoothly and on time, practically unheard of feat, considering how many people were there.



Did you know that the Food Network is now making it's own wine? Well they are and it's called "Entwine". Luckily they're not doing it on their own. They partnered with Wente Vineyards, who know a thing or two about wine, and now have several varieties on the market. I won't say that it's the best wine to ever cross my lips but it good for every day drinking. We got to try several varieties thanks to their very generous spokesperson:

We also had an incredibly funny, but also incredibly helpful session where Denise Vivaldo, the author of the incredible book called The Food Stylist's Handbook, went through dozens of images that bloggers submitted in order to get some feedback on why they didn't get accepted into the many food porn sites we all love so much for the traffic they generate. (That's her on the right there.) She had many great suggestions on what to look for, how to make pictures better and what just doesn't work. Yes, I did send a picture in that was torn to shreds with perfectly logical criticism. No, I'm not going to tell you which one. One of the funniest comments she had was about how nothing that seems casual and random in pictures ever really is, and how much deliberate work and attention every detail requires. "Random only works for sex in the 80s".



The lovely ladies of the Mango National Board came and brought crates of sweet, perfectly ripe mangoes for us. They even did a demonstration on how to cut the mangoes as well as use them in recipes. And on top of all that, a few days after I got home, yet more mangoes showed up on my doorstep (recipe with said mangoes coming soon).



When it was finally time to say goodbye, as part of the last minute giveaways for even more swag, a prize was given to one special guest who was the most active participant in all of camp, helping out wherever needed and making friends at every turn. That lucky recipient, Mimi Avocado, received the coveted prize, the golden pinecone. With that camp was over a rounds of goodbye and stay-in-touch ensued while people slowly collected their things and filed out the doors, still trying to wrap their brains around all the information that has been presented over the two short days at camp.



Back at home, I'm still deeply entrenched in the "Spring Clean my Entire Life" project. My freezer is finally organized and has room for the upcoming summer and my pantry is slowly beginning to follow suit. Asparagus is finally fresh and affordable, not to mention everywhere, so this quiche should easily fit into your weekend brunch or weekday dinner repertoire. It's simple and delicious and easily adaptable to whatever veggies/cheese you want to use.



Cheddar, Bacon and Asparagus Quiche
The recipe is a combination of a bunch of different recipes I found online combined into one, so I'm going to call it mine.

1 batch of pate brisee, I used the recipe from Joy of Baking
5 or 6 slices of bacon, chopped (let's be honest, you're going to add more because you're going to eat some)
1 onion, diced
half a bunch of asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1" pieces
1 cup shredded cheddar
1 cup milk
1/2 cup cream
5 eggs
1 tsp salt
couple of turns of the pepper grinder
1 tsp garlic powder (I know, I add it to everything)

1. Preheat oven to 375F with a baking sheet set on the lowest rack.
2. On a lightly floured surface roll out the chilled pate brisse dough into a 11" circle. Transfer the dough into a 9" quiche or tart pan with a removable bottom, making sure there are no air pockets trapped under it, and run a rolling pin over the top to trim excess dough flush with the rim. Pop the pan into the freezer for at least 20 minutes while you assemble the filling.
3. Stir fry the chopped bacon until just crisp, then remove the bacon pieces to a paper towel lined bowl, and drain most the grease from the pan, leaving about a tablespoonful. Throw the chopped onion into the pan and stir fry until it's translucent. Toss in the asparagus and stir fry for another minute or two until it's just tender and bright green. Remove the pan off the heat and stir the bacon back in. Set aside to cool.
4. Whisk eggs in a separate bowl until well combined then add cream, salt, pepper, and garlic powder, whisking until well mixed.
5. Bake the crust, unfilled, for about 10 minutes. You don't want it fully done, just to get a little bit of color. Once the bottom doesn't look wet, take it out. Stir the cheese into the veggie mixture and spread it on the bottom of the tart. Carefully pour the egg mixture on top and carefully transfer the quiche onto the heated baking sheet in the oven.
6. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until the very middle is no longer "wiggly" when gently shaken. If the quiche is not yet done and its getting too brown, cover it lightly with a piece of foil for last part of baking. Let it sit for a few minutes to cool and set before serving, and garnish with baby greens or chives. Enjoy!