December 5, 2015 by Marios

Dairy-Free Coconut Passion Fruit Pound Cake

The first time I flew in an airplane, I was a teenager. My parents, my sister and I flew to Athens to visit our relatives. I was so excited to finally fly. I don’t remember much from the flight but I do remember that it was a very turbulent approach to the Athens airport. In my excitement, being a teenager on his first flight, I didn’t care. I kept turning to my dad who was sitting next to me trying to show him all the things I could see from my window seat but he was still as a statue, gripping the arm rests, trying hard not to throw up.

Before that first flight with my family to Athens, I had always loved going to the airport to pick up aunts and uncles visiting us from abroad. It seemed like such a magical place of people appearing, literally, out of thin air. I loved the chimes sound that preceded every announcement and the constant hum of people moving about. My love of airports continued for a while. The second time in my life that I boarded a plane, it was to travel to Philadelphia to begin my life in the U.S., a life that gave me many trips all over the world. For many years, I loved the different airports I got to visit. It wasn’t until much later, especially after 9/11, when airports became synonymous with stress, worry and unhappy crowds for me.

I remember talking with my mom one day after that first family flight to Athens. We were remembering all the things we did on our trip and we were reliving them by retelling them. “This is why I love the idea of traveling,” she said. “Because it means I get to see things I’ve never seen before and eat food I’ve never tasted before.” That last part always stayed with me and still makes me excited about traveling. It meant tasting fresh coconut for the first time in my life. Or curiously slicing into my first ripe passion fruit, wondering if it has gone bad, all wrinkly and hard as leather, and greeted with a bright yellow liquid interior studded with seeds, perfuming the air with its intoxicating scent.
Dairy-Free Coconut and Passion Fruit Pound Cake

Ingredients:

2/3 cup virgin & unrefined coconut oil
1 1/3 cups sugar
3 eggs and 1 egg yolk
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
2/3 cups of passion fruit pulp

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350º F. Lightly grease an 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ loaf pan and line with parchment paper leaving extra paper overhanging over both long sides.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a mixer with the paddle attachment, add the coconut oil and mix for 10 seconds at medium speed. While mixer is running, add sugar and mix for another 2 minutes, stopping half way to scrape the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs and yolk and continue mixing until combined, about 10-15 seconds more.

Add half of the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Add passion fruit pulp and mix a few seconds more to incorporate. Add remainder of flour mixture and mix until just combined (do not overmix).

Scrape batter in prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for 70-75 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean.

Place pan on rack and let cool for 15 minutes before removing cake from pan and letting it cool completely on the rack before slicing and serving.

November 29, 2015 by Marios

Apple Brown Sugar Pie

I realized my mistake as soon as I opened the Fresh Direct box. This year, we were going to spend Thanksgiving at home for the first time in seven years. Our friend JR was coming to join us for dinner, so I was going to keep the Thanksgiving meal a little smaller than usual. Instead of making two desserts, I figured that one would be enough. I opted for apple pie. I went online the week before and ordered everything I needed, including seven Granny Smith apples that would go into the pie.

Staring at me now, nestled next to each other inside the Fresh Direct box, were seven plastic clamshell containers, each holding four perfect, green, Granny Smith apples. I had ordered seven 4-packs of apples, giving me 28 apples. At least this time it wasn’t 28 pounds of pork. Eight of them went into the apple pie and the rest will be eaten or turned into apple sauce soon.

I am prone to hyperbole when it comes to food, but I can honestly say this apple pie was the best I have ever made and possibly the best I have ever eaten. And so you don’t think it’s just self-delusional boasting, both Steve and JR said the same thing once they tasted it. I tried this recipe from the last issue of Bon Appétit, which calls for roasting the apple slices first, in order to remove some of their moisture, before combining them with brown sugar and butter for the pie filling. When I say butter, I mean a lot of butter. The entire pie uses almost two packets of butter. But it’s worth it. Every slice came out perfect, with no liquid drowning the pie plate. The apple filling stayed in place between the layers of buttery crust. The taste was quintessential apple pie: sweet, a little tart, with a hint of cinnamon.

Apple Brown Sugar Pie – Adapted from Bon Appétit

Note: The pie crust recipe and method I give you here is my own variation on a recipe by Cook’s Illustrated. The vodka helps reduce the amount of gluten in the dough, keeping it tender. The rest period in the fridge is essential. A minimum of two hours, though one or two days is ideal.

Ingredients:

For the crust:

2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup and 4 tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup cold vodka
1/4 cup cold water

For the pie filling:

4 pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled, sliced into ½-inch wedges
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
¼ cup plus 1 heaping tablespoon all-purpose flour, plus more
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
½ cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 large egg, beaten to blend

Directions:

First make the crust:

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and sugar. Using the large teardrop holes of a grater, grate the butter into the flour one stick at a time. After each stick, use your hands to gently mix the flour and butter a little. Pour cold vodka and water in the bowl and using a fork, start mixing everything. Switch to using your hands once all the liquid has been absorbed and mix until the dough just comes together. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and press together and flatten dough a few times until it just holds its shape but still feels a little crumbly on the edges. Split in half and shape into 1-inch thick disks. Wrap in plastic and chill at least two hours but preferable 24-48 hours.

Make the pie:

Preheat oven to 350°. Toss apples, 1 cup granulated sugar, and ¼ cup flour in a large bowl. Divide between 2 rimmed baking sheets; bake, rotating baking sheets once, until apples are just tender, 25–30 minutes. Let cool, then transfer apples and accumulated juices to a large bowl. Add butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and 1 heaping Tbsp. flour; toss to combine. Let come to room temperature.

Let dough sit at room temperature to soften slightly, about 5 minutes. Roll out 1 disk on a lightly floured surface to a 13″ round. Transfer to a 9″ pie dish. Lift up edges; let dough slump down into dish. Trim, leaving ½” overhang. Roll out remaining disk. Scrape apples into dish and place dough over top; trim, leaving 1″ overhang. Fold edge of top crust under bottom crust, press together to seal, and crimp. Cut 8 slits in top to vent, brush with egg, and sprinkle with remaining 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar. Chill pie in refrigerator until crust is firm, about 30-45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400°. Place pie on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet; bake 30 minutes (crust should be slightly golden). Reduce oven temperature to 350° and continue baking until juices are bubbling and crust is deep golden brown, 50–60 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool at least 4 hours before slicing.

November 21, 2015 by Marios

Quince Poached in Juice

There is something about quince that really takes me back to my childhood. I always remember having it either as a jam or a preserve or a thick jelly-like paste, moderately sweet, something vaguely exotic about it, and with that unmistakable texture, like a thousand tiny grains in your mouth. I can’t say it was ever my absolute favorite dessert as a kid. It was probably my second least favorite, behind a preserve made from bitter green oranges called kitromilo. But it was, and is, a taste of home, as familiar as my mom’s avgolemono soup and rose-flavored ice cream.

The funny thing is that I never actually saw an uncooked quince until I moved to the US and found it many years later at a farmer’s market. You’ll know it’s there before you see it. If the quince is ripe, it perfumes the air with the scents of apples and pears and vanilla, with a hint of something flowery (maybe cardamom?). But don’t be tempted to take a bite. Quinces are incredibly astringent when raw. But when cooked, they become sweet and soft, while changing color from white to pink and apricot hues.

So, as you plan your Thanksgiving meal, looking at yet another variation on pecan pie and pumpkin pie, consider this: quince slices, poached in a delicately spiced juice, served with a dollop of whipped cream. It’s the dessert for that moment when everyone says they simply have no more room in their bellies. Or even better, it’s the simple breakfast for you the next morning.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Quince Poached in Juice – Adapted from Plenty More: Vibrant Vegetable Cooking from London’s Ottolenghi

Ingredients:

2 large quinces, peeled and quartered
3½ cups pomegranate juice, tart cherry juice, or cranberry juice
5½ tablespoons sugar
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped
rind from one (preferably unsprayed) orange, shaved in strips with a vegetable peeler
¼ cup fresh orange juice
2 star anise pods

Directions:

Remove the core from the quince quarters. Discard half of the cores and tie the remaining half in a bundle using double-layered cheese cloth. Cut the quince quarters in half lengthwise. You will have 16 quince slices.

Place the quince slices in a large saucepan and add the juice, sugar, vanilla bean and seeds, orange rind, orange juice, and star anise. Add the bundle of cores and bring to a boil. Turn down heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cover the pan. Cook for about 20 minutes until the quince quarters are soft.

Using a slotted spoon, remove quince slices and set aside. Keep lid off pan and bring back to a low boil. Cook sauce for about 30 minutes until it has reduced and is slightly thicker (the consistency of thin syrup). Remove from heat and remove and discard core bundle, rind, star anise, and vanilla bean. Return quince slices in saucepan and stir gently to coat.

Serve warm or chilled (let quince cool in syrup and chill, covered, in fridge). Top with a dollop of whipped cream, crème fraîche, or clotted cream.

November 15, 2015 by Marios

French Apple Cake

It’s that moment when you turn onto a dimly lit, narrow street, with sidewalks barely wide enough for one person, the pre-Haussmann medieval buildings curving over you as you look up, and you know that you are experiencing Paris as it was, and will be, decades ago and decades in the future. It’s the cool autumn day, when you are having lunch, sitting by the window, and you watch the two elderly Parisian women, warm in their fur coats, carefully unwrapping their chocolate squares before delicately sipping their coffee.

It’s the knowledge that the cheese lady will wrap each piece of cheese you’ve chosen like a precious small gift, which it is, a gift of land and sky and love and hard work, which you will taste with each bite as the Parisian sun (so precious in itself) streams through the big windows of your apartment and you clink your wine glasses, knowing that this lunch, of cheese and meat and bread and wine, is one you really can’t have in any other city in the world.
It’s that sense of magic, as you sit outside on a restaurant terrace with your friends on a warm summer evening, finishing dinner at 10pm while the sun is still stubbornly refusing to set, and the waiter smiles as he pours the final bit of wine for all of you and you are happy, because the night isn’t over, there’s still the lazy walk back home as the sky furiously changes colors before it finally gives up and goes dark.

It’s the giddy feeling you get every time you end up at the Eiffel Tower, wanting to be blasé about the whole thing, but being unable to resist the overwhelming beauty around you and the shared joy of so many people for whom being there is a lifelong dream. It’s the moment you take as you cross one of the Seine bridges to stop and look and take in the unquestionable beauty of this city that is loved and loves back. When you know that no matter what happens, you will always have Paris in your heart.

French Apple Cake – Very slightly adpated from Cook’s Illustrated

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon Calvados or white rum
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
Confectioner’s sugar for dusting

Directions:

Step 1: Adjust oven rack to lower third of the oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare a 9-inch springform pan with vegetable oil. Place prepared pan on baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.
Step 2: Place apple slices in a microwave-safe dish, cover and microwave until apples are pliable, about three minutes. Toss apples with lemon juice and rum and let cool whilst you prepare the cake batter.
Step 3: In a large mixing bowl whisk one cup flour, one cup sugar, baking powder, and salt together.
Step 4: In another bowl whisk together one egg, oil, milk, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients until just combined. Transfer 1 cup of batter to a small bowl.
Step 5: Whisk 2 egg yolks into remaining batter. Gently fold in cooled apples. Transfer batter to prepared pan and smooth surface.
Step 6: Whisk remaining 2 tablespoons of flour into the reserved batter then pour over the top of cake. Sprinkle the surface of the cake with 1 tablespoon granulated sugar.
Step 7: Bake for one hour and fifteen minutes, until golden brown and set. Transfer pan to a wire rack and cool, five minutes.
Step 8: Run a paring knife around the sides of the pan and remove from form. Let the cake cool completely on a wire rack, 2-3 hours. Dust with confectioner’s sugar.

August 15, 2015 by Marios

Plum Torte

I spent yesterday preparing for a friend who’s here visiting us for 10 days and another friend who’s visiting us this weekend and the next. When I was little, we lived in a small two-bedroom house (which became a three-bedroom when my parents split one bedroom into two tiny ones, for me and my sister). When people would come visit and stay overnight, they usually took my and my sister’s beds. We were relegated to the living room where we slept on cots (or “camp beds” as we called them). They were uncomfortable and squeaked when you moved, but I didn’t care. I loved having visitors in our house.

They brought new life to our family, with their funny stories and different ways. And usually they brought gifts too, for me and my sister. My mom always stressed about having guests stay with us and now as an adult I can understand why. Our house was really small, and where we lived, there was no public transportation. We had one car only and my mother didn’t learn to drive until I was a teenager. But she always made sure our visitors (aunts and uncles, grandparents, cousins) felt welcome and comfortable. She cooked and baked and often made the “special” desserts that she made only on important occasions.

I’m not as stressed as my mom was when friends or family visit Steve and me. We are lucky to have extra space and people who visit us can usually take care of themselves in New York city. But just like my mother, I make sure nobody leaves our home hungry. I bake for a couple of days to make sure we have many breakfast options. I make at least two different ice creams for a quick dessert and I plan out at least one big, home cooked dinner at our place.

So in anticipation of our friends coming this weekend I made this plum torte. It comes together in 10 minutes and it’s the perfect summer dessert. The plums get covered with the rising batter and they bake slowly, releasing their juices into the buttery cake. I think our friends will be happy at dinner tonight.Plum Torte – Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (note: if you don’t like cinnamon, substitute with 1/2 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest)
1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking powder (the aluminum-free kind, if you can find it)
Large pinch of salt
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (115 grams or 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
6-7 black plums or 12 small Italian purple plums, halved and pitted (or use pluots, nectarines, or peaches)
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Directions:

Heat over to 350°F. In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (or 1/2 tablespoon grated lemon zest). Set aside. Sift or whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. In a larger bowl, cream butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until fluffy and light in color, about 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time and scraping down the bowl, then the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Batter will be thick, like frosting.

Spoon batter into an ungreased 9-inch springform pan (you can put parchment paper in bottom for easy removal) and smooth the top. Place the plums, skin side up, all over the batter, covering it. No need to press them into the batter. It will rise and mostly cover them. Sprinkle the top with lemon juice, then with the cinnamon sugar (or lemon zest sugar).

Bake until cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into a center part of the cake comes out free of batter, about 50 to 60 minutes. Cool on rack.

August 2, 2015 by Marios

Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Fresh Blueberry Pie

Summer weekends in the city. When, no matter how early you wake up, the sun is already up before you with the promise of a day full of surprises. An afternoon walk means a series of encounters, random, mostly unexpected, that seem to beg to be written about: the shrieking kids running in and out of a gushing fire hydrant; the old man sitting under a beach umbrella on the sidewalk with a chess set in front of him waiting for a willing (daring?) opponent; the samba blaring out of a third floor apartment’s open window, whose occupant is sunbathing on her fire escape. There is both a sense of excitement and a languid attitude in the air. People are less grumpy, more outgoing, less likely to grumble because you are blocking their path on the sidewalk.

There is an ease to everything. Clothes are looser, smiles are easier, food tastes better. When the heat peaks in the middle of the afternoon, there is a primal human need for a cocktail, cold and preferably fizzy, that just comes to the surface. At dinner time, the outdoor tables of restaurants are packed, no matter the raucous traffic just a few feet away. Rosé is abundant and dishes are fresh and simple. And when time for dessert comes, if it’s not ice cream, then it’s a fresh blueberry pie, summer itself on a plate, a perfect ending to a perfect day.Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Fresh Blueberry Pie – Slightly adapted from Food 52 Genius Recipes

Ingredients:

One uncooked single pie crust
1 tablespoon egg white, lightly beaten (optional)
4 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried
1/2 liquid cup and two tablespoons water, divided
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup whipped cream (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Place the pie crust in a 9-inch pie plate and crimp the border with your fingers. Line the crust with parchment, pleating it as necessary so it fits into the pan, and fill it with pie weights (rice or dried beans work well). Bake for 20 minutes. Carefully lift out the rice or beans with the parchment. With a fork, prick the bottom and sides, and bake 5-10 minutes, or until the crust is pale golden. Check after 3 minutes and prick any bubbles that may have formed. Cool the crust on a rack for 3 minutes, so it is no longer piping hot, then (optionally) brush the bottom and sides with the egg white — this will help keep the bottom crust from getting soggy.

Measure out 1 cup of the blueberries and place them in a medium saucepan together with the 1/2 cup water. Cover and bring them to a boil.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and the remaining 2 tablespoons of water. Set it aside.

When the water and blueberries have come to a boil, lower the heat and simmer, stirring constantly for 3 to 4 minutes or until the blueberries start to burst and the juices begin to thicken. Stirring constantly, add the cornstarch mixture, the sugar, lemon juice, and salt. Simmer for a minute or until the mixture becomes translucent. Immediately remove it from the heat and quickly fold in the remaining 3 cups of blueberries.

Spoon the mixture into the baked pie crust and allow to sit at room temperature for at least 2 hours before serving. When set, the berries will remain very juicy but will not flow out of the crust. Serve with whipped cream if desired. This pie can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.

July 25, 2015 by Marios

Peach Pie Braided Bread

One of the things I experienced for the first time in my life when I moved to the U.S. in 1990 was the mall. Growing up, we had heard of malls and seen them in movies, but we never had one where I lived. So there I was in Philadelphia, with just a suitcase and in need of bedding and other basics for my new college dorm room. I was quickly given directions to the Gallery, Philly’s largest mall. I took the subway (another first) and landed at the glass and steel entrance. I pushed through the revolving doors and I was instantly in love.

It’s funny how all the things that over the years I’ve come to hate about malls are the exact ones that made me love them when I first experienced them. There was the clean, almost antiseptic smell, a mix of marble, perfume, and ozone, that made me think clean! and safe! I loved the constant muzak, so calm and innocent, sort of like a glistening snake smoothly gliding towards you in the sunlight. I thought that having all those stores in one place was such a great convenience (no need to walk out in the streets!) and I loved the little stands that dotted the middle of the mall, mimicking actual street stalls. Never mind that what they sold was nothing but gimmicks and AS SEEN ON TV! products.

But my absolute favorite was the food court. Cheap and barely edible Chinese food? Bring it on. Cheesesteaks with four tiny slices of steak under a mountain of processed cheese? I was all in. Pizza with greying ham and canned pineapple? Heaven.

My tastes have obviously changed over the years and I look back at all that food I ate in abject horror. But there’s one thing I can’t help but remember fondly: Cinnabons. You could smell the sugar, cinnamon, and butter about five minutes before you hit the food court. Each bun was the size of a small baby’s head. I would start from the outside layers, like peeling an onion, and work my way to the insanely rich middle. I would devour the whole thing in minutes, making sure to get all the cream cheese frosting that got stuck on the cardboard box. I was still a teenager and eating a whole Cinnabon after two huge slices of “Hawaiian” pizza was not a problem.

This week’s recipe isn’t for a Cinnabon but it’s for its distant cousin, a healthier and more seasonal version. It will fill your kitchen with the aroma of buttery cinnamon sugar but also with the smell of baked peaches. It’s best eaten warm, with your hands, and with no regrets.Peach Pie Braided Bread – Slightly adapted from Joy the Baker

Ingredients:

For the Dough:

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
3/4 cup whole milk, warmed to a warm lukewarm
1 large egg yolk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
a bit of oil for greasing the bowl

For the Filling:

1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 ripe peaches, peeled and cut into 1/2″ cubes
1 large egg, beaten for egg wash

Directions:

In a medium bowl stir yeast with sugar. Stir in the lukewarm milk and then add the egg yolk and melted butter. Whisk together until thoroughly combined. Allow mixture to rest for 5 minutes. It should foam and froth.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour and salt.

Make the dough by hand: Pour the milk mixture over the dry ingredients and start kneading it until it pulls away from the edges of the bowl. Place dough on a lightly floured counter and knead by hand for about 10 minutes more. Dough ball should be smooth and damp, without being too sticky. Shape dough into a ball.

Make the dough in a mixer: In a mixer with the dough hook attachment, add the dry ingredients and the milk mixture. Mix at medium speed for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and not too sticky. Shape dough into a ball.

Grease a large bowl with olive oil. Place the dough in the bowl and cover. Allow to rest at warm room temperature for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

While the dough rises, whisk together the butter with sugar and cinnamon for the filling. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 375º F. Grease a 10-inch cast iron skillet. Set aside.

After the dough has doubled in size, place it on a lightly floured counter and knead twice. Using a rolling pin to roll the dough to a rectangle of about 18×12 inches.

Spoon the cinnamon filling over top, spreading evenly, leaving a clean 1-inch border around the edges. Sprinkle the peach pieces over the cinnamon filling. Start by rolling the longest side of the dough. The roll will be a bit lumpy because of all the fruit. Using a sharp knife, cut the log in half length-wise leaving 1-inch of the edge uncut.

Start braiding the two pieces, by carefully lifting the left strand over the right strand. Repeat this motion until you reach the bottom of the dough. Press together to seal. Join the two ends, creating a circle with the dough and press together.

Using both hands, transfer the dough ring to the prepared cast iron skillet. Brush the bread with the beaten egg.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and bubbling. Allow to cool for about 30 minutes before slicing and serving.