Sure, you can celebrate Valentine’s Day with chocolate.
But that’s just so expected, isn’t it?
Why not shake things up by giving a gift that’s sweet, symbolizes (ahem) fertility and is loaded with antioxidants that do a body good?
I’m talking about the humble grape.
You might be thinking, “boring,” but hear me out. The juicy seedless clusters you mindlessly pick up at the grocery store go all-out glam here.
Meyer lemons. Rich olive oil. And heady rosemary.
All in one moist, flavorful cake that’s a California take on a Mediterranean classic.
One bite will have you transported to a white sandy beach by a crystalline blue sea.
That’s how good it is.
“Rosemary Olive Oil Cake with Lemon Glaze” is from the news self-published cookbook, “Plats du Jour” by Sondra Bernstein, proprietor of the popular Girl & the Fig restaurant in Sonoma, which serves up French country cooking with California sensibilities.
The book, of which I recently received a review copy, is full of recipes from the restaurant’s popular three-course “Plats du Jour” menu offered each Thursday evening, which incorporates the freshest seasonal ingredients. Cook a menu in its entirety or mix and match as you desire.
This simple cake couldn’t help but catch my eye, now that my backyard Meyer lemon tree is groaning with ripe fruit. You also can use Eureka lemons, too. But Meyers are less tart and more floral, making them especially wonderful to bake with.
Imagine waking up on Christmas morning to warm scones that hide little nubbins of sweet marzipan.
How’s that for a holiday gift to bring a smile bright and early?
“Marzipan Scones” is a recipe from the new book, “Baking Style” (Wiley) by noted baking authority Lisa Yockelson, of which I recently received a review copy. The book is full of recipes for homespun cookies, breads, muffins and cakes that just make you want to turn on your oven and spend an afternoon baking your heart out.
These scones are quite unusual. They look like bread and taste like cake.
We’ve all learned that to make the perfect, flaky crust, you need cold butter, cool hands and a resulting dough that must be chilled before it’s baked.
Now, take those techniques that you’ve labored to master all these years — and throw them out the window.
Because here’s a supremely flaky crust that breaks all those rules.
It’s made with boiling hot butter that’s mixed with flour to form a dough that you press — while still warm — into your pan before baking.
How crazy is that?
It’s almost embarrassingly easy and pretty fool-proof. And it produces a crust that would rival any at a fancy patisserie.
I don’t know about you, but a gift at this time of year of something precious and sweet, all tied up with a bow in a glass jar is as wonderful as something in a familiar little blue box.
OK, almost as wonderful.
“Honey-Preserved Clementines” could not be easier, either, especially for a can-o-phobe like myself, who admittedly gets a little nervous around water-bath equipment.
But since these jars get stored in the refrigerator, you can skip that sort of, kind of scary step.
This recipe, published in the Dec. 2009/Jan. 2010 issue of Fine Cooking magazine, comes from my friends and prolific cookbook authors, Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough.