Blood Orange Pound Cake with Orange Ginger Sauce

After recently spotting blood oranges at a local farmer's market, I immediately made sure to pick up a few. I was so excited - blood oranges are such a beautiful fruit! Most of the time, their rinds are a typical orange color, but inside, they are a bold and vibrant fire-red. I decided to use some of these beauties in this tangy cake and serve with an orangey, slightly spicy sauce.

Ingredients
Blood Orange Pound Cake:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon cardamom
1 cup sugar
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon blood orange zest
1/4 cup fresh blood orange juice
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs

Orange Ginger Sauce:
1/2 cup orange marmalade
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ginger powder or chop up some pieces of crystallized ginger
 whipped cream, for serving

Instructions
for blood orange pound cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and cardamom. In a separate bowl, mix sugar, yogurt, orange zest, orange juice, olive oil, vanilla, and eggs. Gently mix the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients. In loaf pan, bake for about 25 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

for orange ginger sauce:
Over low heat, bring marmalade, water, cardamom, and ginger powder to a boil. Drizzle over slices of pound cake. Top slices of cake with whipped cream.

Gastronomica turns 10

Gastronomica is where food meets culture and the arts. It is not a cooking magazine and it might not even make you hungry, but it will certainly feed your brain and your senses. It's deep and provocative, not something mindless to skim through in a waiting room. It's an expensive journal at $13 an issue, but the production values are high and each edition is something you'll most likely keep.


Last week there was a program celebrating the 10th anniversary of Gastronomica, featuring introductory remarks from founder and editor-in-chief Darra Goldstein and a conversation between Harold McGee, celebrated author and contributing editor at Gastronomica and University of California Press' Senior Sponsoring Editor, Blake Edgar. Here are some highlights:

• In the past people who worked in food science weren't necessarily food lovers. That seems to be changing. As a result, food science today is looking more at taste as opposed to just issues of safety.

• He shared details of the International Workshops on Molecular and Physical Gastronomy that took place in in Italy in the 1990's. He was disappointed more chefs, especially non-French chefs were not invited to attend and participate.

• As someone revered by the molecular gastronomy community, it was interesting to hear him say that he "experienced some of the worst dishes of my life in those (molecular gastronomy) restaurants."

• The reason why he doesn't take a public stand on political issues like GMO's is that he doesn't feel comfortable in that role and that the issues are very complicated or as he put it, "there's a lot more to the story."

• He also shared details about visiting Nathan Myrhvold's world class lab/kitchen and his role as a reviewer in an upcoming series of books that Myrhvold is working on.

• His next book comes out in October, The Keys to Good Cooking, and it will help answer the questions home cooks have about the practical side of kitchen science.


Everyone who attended the event got a copy of the Winter 2010 edition of Gastronomica. It has a fascinating piece on how cherries were marketed using teen idols and music videos in Taiwan, a discussion on food porn, a look at the phenomenon of "no great women chefs" an investigation of chocolate and terroir, historical essays on food in art and art in food, a moving personal memoir about the food proclivities of one man's mother, a poem, photographs of Portuguese pastries, and so much more. In fact it even comes bundled with a little booklet of photography artfully arranged.


If you are more of a book sort of person, then you should really check out The Gastronomica Reader a compendium of over 40 essays, poems, art, memoirs and everything that makes the journal so compelling. It's the only resource on food that I can think of that is at times sexy, shocking, smart, disturbing and beautiful. It's a handsome coffee table book and timeless in a way that food magazines rarely ever are. Buy it and savor it for years to come.

Quinoa Stuffed Poblano Pepper Recipe

I've been cooking more vegetarian and even vegan recipes lately. One reason is the Meatless Monday effort sponsored by the John Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Health. The idea is to help reduce meat consumption by 15% in order to improve both the health of individuals and the health of the planet. But it also has a lot to do with challenging myself to try new things.

When it comes to cooking, I love a good challenge. Cooking with less meat or none at all inspires me. I do better with fewer ingredients than more ingredients. In a way, it forces you to be creative and think outside the box. Or in this case, the refrigerator. You know the saying, necessity is the mother of invention? It always reminds me of my experiences as a babysitter back when I was a teenager. At some point while babysitting either I, or the kids I was watching would get hungry. It was sometimes a challenge for me to come up with something tasty to eat based on whatever I could find in an unfamiliar kitchen.

Stuffed peppers are an acquired taste. I like them, but my dad doesn't. I know this because when I was growing up we only ate them when he was out of town. If you like the earthy flavor of roasted peppers and quinoa, you will like this dish. It combines a number of vegetables with quinoa and nuts to give you lots of flavors and textures in each bite. The filling is basically a quinoa pilaf, so feel free to swap out the chard for another leafy green or change up the nuts. I used Roland red quinoa but I didn't think that it tasted much different from white quinoa. Originally I thought I would top it with cheese but upon tasting it, I didn't feel like it needed it. I also think you could make this without the sauce if you prefer. You know the drill, make this recipe yours.


Quinoa Stuffed Poblano PeppersMakes 4 servings as a side dish, or 2 entree serving

Ingredients

2 poblano peppers, cut in half, seeds removed
1 cup water
1/2 cup white or red quinoa
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
2 cups swiss chard leaves, shredded
1/4 cup pistachios, chopped
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups canned tomatoes, crushed and liquid

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine water and quinoa in medium saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low. Cover; cook for 15 to 18 minutes or until water is absorbed. Remove from heat.

Heat a large, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, add olive oil. Saute mushrooms, onion and garlic, stirring frequently for 8 minutes or onion is tender. Stir in chard and let it wilt. Add cooked quinoa and season to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon mixture into peppers. Add the tomatoes and liquid to a baking pan large enough to hold the peppers. Tuck the peppers into the sauce and bake for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Avocado Salad

Some taste combinations are just magical - like that of avocado and lime. These refreshing flavors shine in this simple salad.

Ingredients
3 avocados, peeled, pitted and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 Roma tomato, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1/4 teaspoon white wine vinegar
juice of 1 lime
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Instructions
Mix chopped avocado, tomato, and parsley together. In small bowl, whisk vinegar, lime juice, sea salt, and pepper. Pour vinegar and lime juice mixture over the vegetables and toss.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Candy

Add some homemade treats to your Easter basket this year! This candy has a smooth and creamy middle and is coated in a lovely, delicate chocolate. I have fond memories of eagerly awaiting the arrival of Easter each year, since that was the only occasion for which my mom would make these for my sister and me. Hope you enjoy these as much as I have!

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese
1 egg
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon peanut butter
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate wafers for coating (I use E. Guittard's 61% cacao semisweet wafers and love the results I get)

Instructions
With mixer, beat butter and cream cheese. Add egg, sugar, salt, and vanilla, and continue beating. Mix in peanut butter and beat until well combined. Chill batter for 1/2 hour. Form batter into egg shapes (or whatever shapes you want) and chill again for 1/2 hour. Melt chocolate, and coat peanut butter shapes with the chocolate.

Introducing the Wines of Portugal

A few weeks ago I attended an informal Portuguese wine tasting with Jardiniere Wine Director, the utterly charming, Eugenio Jardim. It was very gratifying for me on a number of levels. A few years ago, during the process of writing WinePassport: Portugal I got very excited about Portuguese wines. My enthusiasm has not waned. I am happy whenever I meet those who also enjoy sharing the pleasures of Portuguese wines, of which there are many.

Jardim had just returned from Portugal where he tried lots of wine and even wrote about regions of the country. We started out with one of my favorites, a Luis Pato sparkling wine from Bairrada and then proceeded with several wines I was unfamiliar with but enjoyed greatly. Then a week or so ago I went to a wine tasting of Portuguese wines that lacked distributors on the West Coast. The mood was giddy as wine writers, retailers and sommeliers discovered unique and captivating wines at often bargain prices. While red table wines from the Douro valley are becoming more common, there is much more to discover.

Next week Vini Portugal will host it's annual wine tasting event in San Francisco on April 5th, 2010, and Evan Goldstein will be giving master classes. I can't wait! If you are interested in Portuguese wines, this is THE event to attend.

While I suggest you also purchase a copy of WinePassport: Portugal, here are tips from Jardim for enjoying Portuguese wines and my comments as well:

1. Portugal is where you will find tremendous value when it comes to wine. Try something new, you don't have much to lose.

2. Don't get hung up on the varietals. As Jardim pointed out, they can be hard to pronounce and many wines are blends. When starting out, look to regions and styles instead.

3. Portugal is the last frontier. This is ironic, because Portugal has been making wine for a very, very long time. Grapes were brought to Portugal by the Phoenicians in 600 BC and Portugal has been exporting wine since the 14th century.

4. The native varieties are wonderful. Some may be similar to varietals in Spain, but others are completely unique and more often than not, food friendly.

Stonehouse 27 Indian Sauces

I'm not big on convenience foods in general, but I like the idea of an Indian "simmer sauce" to create a quick meal at home with whatever meat, seafood, tofu or vegetables I happen to have on hand. Unfortunately I never found a brand of Indian sauces that really delivered. The flavors were not great or they were too oily. Well, problem solved. Stonehouse 27 makes a line of Indian sauces that are very high quality with no artificial ingredients or preservatives. They even use agave syrup in place of the more common corn syrup and are gluten-free and vegetarian (and mostly vegan).

The sauces are not necessarily what you might find at a typical Indian restaurant. They are inspired by the Portuguese and Anglo-Indian heritage of the company’s founder, Sharon Fernandes. I was given samples around the time of the Fancy Food Show earlier this year and recently had the chance to try the Tamarind and Garlic, Cilantro and Coconut and the Cashews and Cream sauces with various fresh ingredients. I was really struck by the bright freshness of the flavors. The tamarind was nice and tangy, the cashew and coconut was creamy and rich. They are very flexible and easy to use. If you use meat and vegetables they make a very tasty one dish meal. Frankly they are better than the Indian food I can get delivered.

They are a bit more expensive than other sauces I've seen at about $8 for a jar, but for the quality and convenience I think they are well worth the money. Half a jar and half a pound of shrimp or chicken plus some vegetables made enough for at least three servings.I do think you need a bit of cooking sense to use them. The time necessary for simmering depends on the size you have cut your meat or vegetables. And I like that they are unsalted so I can season to taste. But even when I am bleary-eyed making a satisfying meal with these sauces is a breeze and a nice change of pace from jars of spaghetti sauce. Keep your eyes open for them stores near you or purchase online.