My best friend Leslie and I have talked on several different occasions about the convenience recipes of our mother’s and grandmother’s generations. Ninety-nine percent of me is completely against them. But there are a couple of these recipes that I remember fondly. A fact I used  to hide with considerable guilt, considering the fact that my favorite cake on earth is a doctored box of yellow cake mix. I served it to Leslie when she and her husband were visiting us from England three years ago and she was shocked to find that along with cake mix, it also contained instant vanilla pudding.

The thing about this cake though, is that is moist with a tender crumb. The bottom gets slightly gooey and I find the faint crunch of the cinnamon and sugar at the top irresistible. For a long time I have thought about revamping some of these convenience recipes, for a couple reasons. One being, that I do not find cooking from scratch to be an inconvenience. The second being, that food from scratch always seems deeply satisfying and delicious to me in a way convenience foods do not.

The recipe I am sharing with you today is a re-vamp of my mother’s raspberry almond pie. Not long after my parents were married, my mother came up with this recipe for my dad’s birthday and it is still made every year for my dad on his birthday. The recipe uses a packet of instant vanilla pudding and a store bought graham cracker crust. I simply replaced them with homemade alternatives and came up trumps.

The creamy pudding is fortified with cream cheese and laced with almond extract. Then it is chilled in a thick graham cracker crust and topped with raspberry and almonds. It is a luscious and rich without being overpowering. I is also a complete and total mess to eat and I love it. I will definitely be making this for years to come.

My next convenience to scratch mission is that cake. It may take a bit longer than this one. Wish me luck.

Have you ever converted a convince recipe or have one that brings back fond memories?

Vanilla Bean Pudding and Almond Pie with Raspberry

1 recipe vanilla bean pudding

8 oz. Cream Cheese, at room temp

1 tsp. almond extract

2 c. raspberries

1/4 c. sugar

pinch sea salt

1 recipe graham cracker crust (see below)

Whip the cream cheese until it is very smooth. Then add in the pudding and almond extract and mix lightly until just incorporated. You do not want to over mix this or it will lose structure. Add to the crust and refrigerate a few hours until set or overnight.

Combine the raspberries, sugar and salt in a small saucepan, simmer and reduce until the juices are thick and berries have fallen apart. Do not reduce it so much that you won’t be able to spread it over the pudding mixture. Chill until you are ready to assemble.

Spoon the cold raspberry mixture around the set pie, attempting to cover as much of the pudding as possible without manipulating the pie itself. Cover any remaining spaces carefully using a table knife and a light touch. Chill until you are ready.

Top with toasted almond slices before serving.

Note: You may like a thicker set pie, if that is the case, add a bit more cornstarch to my vanilla bean pudding recipe.

Graham Cracker Crust

12 graham crackers, broken up

4 TBS butter, at room temp

2 TBS sugar

Preheat the oven to 350F.

In the food processor, combine the ingredients and pulse until the grahams are a relatively fine meal. Press into a pie dish, using a glass to help even the bottom and form the sides. Keep in mind that this is thicker than most graham cracker crusts and I like the sides to reflect that. The mixture is a bit sandy in texture while you are working with it, but won’t cause too many difficulties.

Bake for 8 minutes or so. You’ll notice subtle darkening, which is good, you don’t want too much.

Pudding and I have not always been the best of friends. As a child I always thought it was oddly sweet with a strange texture I didn’t care for at all. Even then I simply had no time for it. My sister and brother devoured their bowls while I attempted to blow bubbles in it and other disgusting things. I never got into the whole pudding cup thing and to this day the words tapioca and gelatin activate my highly tuned fight or flight instinct. As an adult, my tastes and feelings have changed and while I won’t be tearing into a pudding cup or slurping on a cup of bubble tea anytime soon, I did think it was high time I experimented with real homemade pudding.

I first tried making a vanilla pudding just thickened with cornstarch, achieving a decent texture, but the flavor seemed oddly thin. I think that method is much more suited to chocolate pudding, because the melted chocolate picks up the slack for the cornstarch, adding a silky quality. So I tried thickening it by simply using egg yolks and while it was good, it was also too much like custard. I might as well have caramelized sugar on top of it and called it creme brulee. I finally decided to try a combination of the two and eureka! I’d done it. I hope you enjoy the fruits of my experimentation.

What are your thoughts on pudding, should it be homemade or from a cup?

Vanilla Bean Pudding

1/4 c. corn starch

9 TBS. fine sugar

2 egg yolks

a very healthy pinch sea salt

1 vanilla bean, pod split seeds removed

3 c. whole milk

Blend the cornstarch, sugar and egg yolks, salt, vanilla seeds and milk, making sure no lumps. Pour into a bain maire, add the vanilla pod and allow to thicken and cook over medium to medium low heat, stirring frequently. It should be done around 205F-210F.

Remove the vanilla pod, then pour into serving dishes and cool before serving.

Check back next week, when I share a recipe that uses this pudding.

I found this Blue Willow plate today high up in a cabinet. It used to hang on my grandmother’s wall. She has always dearly loved Blue Willow and she made certain her granddaughter loved it too. Seeing this plate got me thinking about my grandparents farm. It was the most beautiful place, nestled in the Willamette Valley, just below the Cascade foothills. What I wouldn’t give to see it back the way it used to be, just once. I hope you don’t mind indulging me while I wax reminiscent about the things I loved about it and those who lived there. I promise there is a long overdue recipe at the end.

Freshly laundered clothes billowing on the line.

Forget Me Nots lining the fairy path under the great oak tree.

Hereford steers grazing at sunset.

Urging the round swing higher, trying to touch the leaves of the apple tree.

Lemon cucumbers sprawling across the garden towards the carrot tops.

My grandmother’s ring resting in its dish while peeling apples with her powder blue handled knife.

The fruit room shelves lined with luscious jams of all kinds.

My grandmother’s flawless canned peaches, tasting of preserved summer.

Sneaking tastes of frothy lemon cookie batter.

The intoxicating fragrance of roast beef wafting up the stairs.

The distinctive low rumble of the mud room door.

My grandfather cleaning up after a day in the pasture.

Setting the old oak dining table.

The swinging pendulum and chime heralding the hour.

Standing on the warm hearth in wooly socks telling wild stories to my grandfather as the fire crackled.

The flowered davenport.

Flowery nightgowns.

The ever present ruffle.

Family history told by stitch and snippet.

My grandmother showing me the proper way to guide fabric through her old fashioned sewing machine.

A black and white photo of a severe looking woman in a black high necked dress and tightly bound hair.

The soldier who never came home.

My gangly teenaged grandfather in basketball clothes.

My porcelain skinned grandmother herding her sons on the beach.

My dad, so small, in his cowboy shirt, dimple in his chin, smiling that wry smile of his.

My siblings and I piling in my grandfather’s beat up old Chevy to visit the candy store.

The scent of Dentyne and Camel unfiltered cigarettes.

Grape Laffy Taffy, wild cherry Jolly Ranchers, treats to be squirreled away and savored slowly.

My dad’s 4H ribbons.

My uncle’s letters from Vietnam.

The vanity bench with violets stitched into the seat.

Silver bright moonlight shining across the bed.

Satin pillowcases and milk glass turkeys.

The bulbous lamp painted with roses.

The sound of crickets.

6 TBS. sugar + a little more for sprinkling

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. sea salt

6 TBS. cold  unsalted butter, diced

1/2 c. cold milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 egg yolk

1 Tbsp. water

Preheat your oven to 375F.

Place the prepared strawberries in a baking dish 9 inch (give or take) sprinkle with sea salt and set aside.

Chill a large bowl. Then add in the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt, whisking to combine and lighten. Add in the butter and work into the dough by rubbing the ingredients between your fingers to create a meal. Stir in the milk and vanilla, bringing the mixture together gently. Bits of butter should still be discernible.

Tip out onto a floured cutting board and roll out to a 1 1/2 to 2 inch thickness. Using a biscuit cutter or juice glass, cut circles out of the dough and place on top of the strawberries. Whisk the yolk and water together and use to brush on top of each biscuit. Sprinkle the dish with a generous bit of sugar. Place in the oven and bake until the biscuits are golden, about 20-30 minutes depending on the reliability of your oven.

Serve with a scoop of vanilla gelato and if you feel so inclined, a sprinkle of chopped pistachio.

In anticipation of my upcoming Hungry Mutineer column, my recipe for these buttery Margarita Bars has been posted on the Mutineer blog. I hope you check it out.

The Madness of Salted Peanut Butter Brownies

I tried to resist the urge to make them. I ate a salad. I did crunches. But, as though disconnected from my mind, my hands began pulling eggs and butter out of the refrigerator. The next thing I knew my fingers were measuring cocoa,vanilla and even milk. Soon, even my eyes betrayed me as they consulted the recipe I was adapting without first consulting my calorie conscious mind.

I placed the peanut butter laden, sea salt speckled batter in the oven and as the aroma filled the air I went from unwilling participant to sympathetic, as signs of Stockholm Syndrome began to emerge in my behavior. I tried to distract myself from the maddening scent that hung in the air. I typed, chatted and dropped the needle on a record, but the words had no substance, the conversation failed to distract and the music was a mere soundtrack to my madness.

At last, I plunged the toothpick into the center of my obsession, emerging nearly clean revealing itself to be nearly ready for my fevered consumption. I paced with increasing impatience, wanting to plunge a fork into the piping hot pan and gorge myself on its salty, rich contents, but I waited so as not to face the tragedy of a burned mouth and  suffer the inability to taste the object of my obsession.

I sliced my piece, inhaling deeply, basking in it as one would the sun. My fingers lifted the brownie to my mouth and I bit. The flavors of cocoa, peanut were punctuated by bursts of mouthwatering salt and made all the more luxurious by the lush texture of this sinful morsel. My hands betrayal of my dieting mind was complete, but I felt no shame in my fall from attempted perfection and secretly hoped my hands were planning another clandestine coup d’etat of my mind.

Salted Peanut Butter Brownies

Adapted from my own recipe for Bourbon Bacon Brownies that appeared in issue 11 of Mutineer Magazine.

2 cups Granulated Sugar

8 oz. Melted Unsalted Butter, cooled to room temperature

4 Eggs, at room temperature

1 1/4 cups Cocoa Powder

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1 1/4 cups All-Purpose Flour

1 1/2 tsp. Sea Salt

1/2 cup Milk, at room temp

3/4 cup Creamy Peanut Butter

Preheat your oven to 300F.

In the bowl of a mixer, add the sugar and butter, mix until well combined. Add in the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly before adding in the cocoa powder, vanilla and salt. Add in the flour and milk, a little at a time, alternating between the two, beginning and ending with flour.

Butter a 9’ inch baking pan and fill with half of the batter. Drizzle with half of the peanut butter, top with the remaining batter and place dollops of peanut butter around on the surface of the batter. Using a knife and swift movements, swirl the peanut butter around on the surface.  Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out relatively clean.

Makes 12-16 Brownies

She was an excellent baker, but hasn’t been in the kitchen since they moved off the farm. Actually, both of my grandmothers were wonderful bakers. They couldn’t cook, but they made amazing for blackberry pie, oatmeal cookies and the booziest fruit cake imaginable. My trip down memory lane got me thinking about those wonderful homey recipes that grandmothers make and got me itching to do a little baking of my own.

I wanted to make something you’d find in a farmhouse kitchen, something that embodied autumn and grandmotherly care. My cake isn’t very pretty, but it reminds me of those things and tastes quite lovely if I do say so myself. My recipe calls for sea salt, which I love as you get the occasional burst of salt on your tongue that cuts through the sweetness and brings out those gorgeous apple flavors. The cake is soft with a tender crumb and smells quite heavenly of cinnamon and vanilla. I imagine this would pair quite well with a cup of steaming coffee or even a little nip of brandy.

Apple Skillet Cake

1/2 c. Unsalted Butter, melted and cooled + 2 TBS for the skillet

2-3 Your Favorite Baking Apples, peeled, cored and sliced into eighths.

1 c. Sugar

1 1/4 c. Flour

2 tsp. Baking Soda

3/4 tsp. Sea Salt + a little more to season the apples

1 tsp Cinnamon + a little more for the apples

1/2 c. Milk, at room temperature

2 Eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1/4 c. Brown sugar

Preheat your oven to 325F.

In a medium bowl, combine your dry ingredients and whisk to distribute. In a separate bowl combine the eggs, vanilla and milk, whisking to combine before adding in the butter.

Melt the extra 2 TBS butter in a 12 inch skillet over medium heat and add the apples arranging in a decorative fashion.Make sure to use a skillet that can go into the oven. Saute for a few minutes, then add the brown sugar, and a sprinkling of cinnamon and sea salt.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients, stirring well with a wooden or heavy metal spoon to combine. Pour over the apples in the skillet and smooth with your spoon to evenly distribute. Place in the oven and bake for 18-22 minutes depending on the reliability of your oven. Don’t forget to use pot holders. I caught myself reaching for the skillet handle unprotected the other day, things almost got ugly.

Allow to cool slightly before serving. Serve either directly from the pan or loosen the cake with a spatula and turn it out, it will not be very pretty this way, but it will be delicious.

Two years (or possibly more) ago, I was in a bit of a recipe slump and was bouncing ideas off of (or harassing) my friend Leslie when I first got this idea. But, it was winter and there were no fresh cherries to be had. So, I  wrote the idea down and forgot about it until a few weeks ago.

I am a complete cherry nut but never, ever cook with them because frankly, I am too busy eating them fresh out of the bag like a my naughty dog with his head in the treat bag. Thankfully, I have kept my summer cherry habit in check long enough to pit enough cherries to test this yummy little recipe for Cherry Pot Pies.

I wanted to make a playful dish and as it was winter when the idea struck me, pot pies were definitely on my mind. I didn’t simply want to place cherries in a ramekin and top it with a pastry lid. I wanted to take it to the next level and drizzle in some luscious creme anglaise to take the place of the gravy or béchamel often seen in a savory pot pie. Instead of the traditional creme anglaise made with milk or cream, I made mine with almond milk to lighten it while adding a different layer of flavor. I had expected it to be nuttier, but the flavor is quite mild and ended up working very well in the creme anglaise.

Now, creme anglaise is a stirred sauce, slowly heated, thickened and held in suspension by egg yolks and should not reach temperatures over about 175F, which means the dessert components must be cooked separately and assembled later. This might seem like a lot of trouble to go through, but it also makes it a strangely convenient dessert for parties since the creme anglaise and lids can be made ahead of time. Speaking of the lids, I wanted to create a tender crust with a twist and so I added lightly toasted almonds to the mix. They are buttery, crisp and break with a whack of your spoon like the sugar on a pot of creme brulee.

When you put the three components together you have a really delightful dessert with lusciously juice cherries, velvety creme anglaise and a lid that will leave you licking your ramekin.

P.S. Please join me on Facebook!

Cherry Pot Pies

2 lbs Rainier Cherries (or your favorite sweet cherry), stoned

1 recipe Almond Creme Anglaise

1 recipe Almond Pastry Lids

Preheat your oven to 350F

Fill six ramekins until they are bursting (sort of) with cherries and  bake for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and spoon the warm almond creme anglaise over the cherries, place a lid on top and serve.

The Creme Anglaise (with Almond Milk)

4 Egg Yolks

1/2 cup Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

The seeds of 1 Vanilla Bean

A few pinches Sea Salt

1 1/2 cups Almond Milk

Combine  the yolks, sugar, vanilla, vanilla bean and salt in the bowl of a mixer and whip until it becomes a light butter yellow color. Using a lower speed mix in 1/2 cup of the almond milk. You don’t want to add it all at this point or use high speeds, because it foams up like crazy. Once that first 1/2 cup of almond milk has been added, stir in the rest using the lowest speed possible.

Pour the mixture into a sauce pan and cook over low to medium low, stirring almost constantly until the temperature reaches 175F, the sauce will leave a nice coating on your spoon. Do not get impatient with this or you will end up with scrambled eggs or a funky scum over the top.

Remove the thickened sauce from the stove and run through a sieve. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue, but almond milk tends to contain debris (nothing gross) and I like to strain it out for a prettier sauce.

Note: If reheating, place the creme anglaise in a double boiler and warm over gently simmering water until 160F to 175F.

The Lids

1/2 cup Blanched Slivered Almonds, very lightly toasted

1 cup AP Flour

2 TBS Sugar + more for sprinkling

1/4 tsp Sea Salt

8 TBS Butter, cut into smallish pieces

2 TBS Ice Water

1 Egg, beaten with a splash of water

Add the almonds to the food processor and pulse until chopped very fine. Next, add in the flour, sugar and salt pulsing it a few times to distribute and lighten the ingredients. Then add in the butter and ice water, pulsing until the dough begins to come together. Turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap (or whatever method you use for this sort of thing) and bring the dough together into a ball. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat your oven to 350F.

Remove the dough from the fridge, cut in half and roll out each to about a 1/4 of an inch on a well floured surface and cut into rings about the size of your ramekin. Place each cut out on a baking sheet lined with silpat or parchment paper, being careful not to stretch out the dough in the process. Brush the lids with the egg wash and sprinkle each one lightly with sugar. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden. Either use immediately or cool and store for later use.

Note: There will be excess dough; wrap it and freeze it for another day.

I have been adding herbs and spices to desserts for years. Macerated strawberries with black pepper and rosemary? Done it. Apple strudel with thyme? All over it. Peach cobbler with anise seed, blueberries and ginger whipped cream? Done and done. The strange thing is that I rarely make desserts with fruit that is unadorned. I recently asked myself why I can’t seem to let the pure fruit stand alone. My answer was nothing earth shattering, I simply like to play with flavor.

Ever since moving to Petaluma I have experienced wave, after wave of nostalgia. Petaluma is a small agricultural community in the western part of the United States. I am surrounded by pastures full of cows and horses. There is a strong movement to keep big box stores out of the community, although a few have slipped through, and mom and pop shops line the streets.  The Starbucks on Petaluma Boulevard is filled with old farmers as often as hipsters and soccer moms. Taking a trip to an antique store here is like a trip into my grandmothers china cabinet with shelves full of Blue Willow, Dusty Rose not to mention the fact that I think every shop in the area seems to have her entire kitchen and collection of knick-knacks on sale. Around every corner it seems, there is something that reminds me of my grandparents and their rural west coast town.

My grandparents had a beautiful grey/blue farmhouse that sat underneath the shade of a giant oak tree and overlooked the orchard, pastures and kitchen garden. My grandmother grew her own berries and other fruits and made the most marvelous fruit pies with them. Her way with fruit was legendary and always a source of anticipation and excitement on the long road from our home in Washington to hers in Oregon. She never felt the pull of her spice cabinet, but she certainly had a way with fruit and I have decided to give her ways a try.

Well, almost, my grandmother never had agave nectar in her cupboard.

I chose to sweeten my fruit with agave simply because it isn’t intrusive on the fruits flavor like honey and I think it helps preserve the pure flavor of the fruit. The flavor of the crisp is very tangy, sweet, a little earthy and goes great with a good Rioja.

Who knows, maybe, just maybe with forty or fifty years of practice and I’ll be as good as my grandmother.

Enjoy!

The Fruit

5-6 cups Blueberries

3 Apricots, sliced in half with the stone removed

A hefty drizzle of Pure Agave Nectar (according to your sweet tooth, apricot can be quite tart)

Sprinkle of Sea Salt

1 Recipe Topping

Preheat your oven to 325F.

Arrange your fruit in a baking dish or in 6 ramekins and sprinkle with a little bit of sea salt and drizzle lightly with agave nectar. Cover thickly with the topping and bake for 40-45 minutes or until the topping is golden and fruit bubbly. Serve warm or at room temp either as they are or with a dollop of fresh cream.

The Topping

2 1/2 cups Old Fashioned Oats (thick cut if possible)

1/2 cup Almonds, chopped finely

1/2 cup Pure Agave Nectar

1/4 cup Butter, melted

Sea Salt

Combine the ingredients together and mix until everything is coated with agave and butter.

**Once again, Phil was unable to take the photos so I pulled out the ol’ hilstamatic app for my iphone.

For many months now, I have been working on my own little baking initiative and for the first time in my life I can say that I am not a total disaster with a mixer. Wee! Last week I was playing around with almond butter and came up with this recipe for Toasted Almond Cookies.

I’ve been wanting to make something with almond butter for a long time and cookies seemed like a natural fit. I love the flavor it provides it has the elegance of a toasted almond instead of using a flavoring agent that only really provides a faint echo of what real almond tastes like. It is nutty and rich with butter while being only lightly sweet. The cookies are crisp with a slightly sandy texture that is tender without giving up it’s pleasant snap.

I love to eat these cookies plain, but they can also be eaten in any number of ways. I have stirred in toasted almonds and oats as well as a few shards of homemade salted toffee as a variation. You could even portion out a smaller cookie and sandwich them together with a thin layer of caramel, or even ice cream. I love a versatile recipe.

Toasted Almond Cookies

3/4 cup Unsalted Butter, at room temperature

1 cup Almond Butter, at room temperature

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 Eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp Vanilla

1 1/2 cups Flour

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Sea Salt

Preheat your oven to 325F and line your baking pan with parchment or a silpat.

Sift or whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in a blow and set aside.

In the bowl of a large mixer cream together the butter and sugar until they are well combined and light in color. Add in the almond butter and blend thoroughly, before adding in the eggs (one at a time) and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients until fully incorporated.

Using a tablespoon, drop the dough onto the prepared baking pan leaving room for a bit of spreading. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to rest on the pan for a minute or so after baking so they don’t come apart whek moving them to the cooling rack.

Notes: If you want perfectly shaped cookies, refrigerate the dough for an hour or two and then form into a ball shape before placing on the baking pan.

Don’t go to crazy with the goodies only adding around 1/4 to 1/2 cups to the batter.

You may recall that in early January I wrote about a community olive pressing at The Olive Press in Sonoma. It was a marvelous place and I have been enjoying their Sevillano olive oil at home ever since. A few weeks ago I saw a tweet from Gabi the, blogger for The Olive Press, asking if anyone would be interested in taking part in a contest. They would send four bottles of olive oil for you to come up with a four course olive oil centric meal. The winner would receive a rather hefty supply of their delicious oils.  Um . . . yeah, I was interested.

A week or so later I received a box containing their Italian Blend, Arbequina varietal, Mission Blend and the Blood Orange Olive Oil.

I decided to go simple. When I have really good, fresh local ingredients a part of me tends to switch gears. I believe that the more simple the preparation the better in order to highlight the lovely ingredients. Since we’ve reached that point in the year when the food of winter hasn’t completely faded and the bounty of spring has just begun to make an appearance, I’ve prepared a lunch blending the two seasons. I hope you enjoy my menu.

Wish me luck!

Grilled Asparagus Salad with Blood Orange Olive Oil Dressing

I love this salad, it is fresh, smoky and just plain gorgeous. The Blood Orange Olive Oil is amazing, I want to do laps in it. The citrus is just so bright and lovely in this salad it is like a little bit of spring in a bowl.

A drizzle plain Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Asparagus Bunch, washed and trimmed

4 cups Assorted Greens and Micro Greens, washed and dried

2 Blood Oranges, skin and pith removed with a knife and cut into sections

1/4 cup Pine Nuts, toasted

A few good glugs Blood Orange Olive Oil

2 Sprigs of Thyme, leaves removed

Sea Salt, to taste

Freshly Ground Pepper, to taste

Blood Orange Zest, to garnish

Toss the asparagus with a drizzle of oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Place the asparagus over a hot grill and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes. They should look as though they have just begun to shrivel when they are ready. Remove the asparagus from the grill, cool, then chop on a bias into 3/4 inch pieces.

Toss the cooled asparagus with the greens and orange sections, dress with the oil and season with thyme leaves, salt and pepper.

Note: I didn’t include it in the recipe because I didn’t want to over chevre the menu, but I do think a bit of chevre would be spectacular in this.

Italian Blend Olive Oil Cannelini Bean Veloute

Keeping with the theme of simplicity, I had to include a variation on the famous Tuscan white bean dish which is the ultimate canvas upon which to display a gorgeous olive oil. Since it is lunch, I turned it into a soup and added a wintry touch by steeping a parmesan rind in the simmering soup. I wanted a more forceful oil for this soup so I used the Italian blend. Something more mild like the Arbequina would have simply been lost among the creamy saltiness of the rich soup.

1/4 cup Italian Blend Olive Oil + a few extra glugs to garnish

6 Garlic Cloves, minced

4 cups Cannelini Beans, cooked

4 cups Chicken Stock

1 Small Heel of Parmesan

1 Bay Leaf

Sea Salt, to taste

Freshly Ground Pepper

Warm the olive oil in a pot over medium heat and add the garlic. Allow the garlic to saute a little bit before adding the beans. Cook the beans for a few minutes before adding in the remaining ingredients. Simmer for an hour or two over medium-low heat with the lid on before using tongs to remove the parm heel and carefully pureeing the soup. Don’t burn yourself. Keep warm until serving.

At serving time, ladle into a bowl and dress with the olive oil.

Simple Prosciutto and Chevre Tartines with Arbequina Olive Oil

When I make lunch for a lazy afternoon with friends there is generally some sort of tartine involved. I love to set out a platter with all sorts of wonderful ingredients for topping lovely slices toasted bread. I change the ingredients often serving everything from olive oil packed tuna to a lovely serrano ham, but one thing always makes an appearance, the olive oil.

Naturally, I brush the bread down with oil before toasting, but there is nothing more lush than drizzling some really wonderful olive oil. I love biting into a tartine just dripping with olive oil, it makes even the simplest tartine feel incredibly decadent. I chose the Arbequina for it’s peppery quality, which I believe pairs amazingly with prosciutto and the pepped chevre and the smattering of herbs.

1 Loaf Good Hearty Bread (I used a pain levain), sliced and toasted

4-6 ounces Chevre, at room temp

Freshly Ground Pepper

6 ounces Prosciutto, at room temp

1/4 to 1/2 cup Your Favorite Herbs (I used thyme and flat leafed parsley)

Spread the chevre over the toasted bread and sprinkle with pepper. Arrange the prosciutto over it, sprinkle with herbs and drizzle with olive oil.

Note: Use your favorite chevre, but I recommend Laura Chenel. The odd thing is, I don’t even normally like Laura Chenel chevre, but I love it with dry cured hams.

Mission Olive Oil and Toasted Almond Polenta Cake with a Mission Olive Oil Honey Drizzle

I have a feeling this recipe might leave a few of you scratching your heads, wondering why I would use good olive oil for baking. After all, oil just adds moisture to cakes, you’re not supposed to taste it, right? To answer my own question, yeah, most often that is correct but my baking instinct has been formed through the eyes of one who loves savory and I want to know it is there. I used the Mission Olive Oil for this recipe because of its natural buttery decadence, it is so rich and luxurious which made it a natural fit. I resisted the urge to add almond flavoring and instead relied on the glory of toasted almonds. This cake is not too sweet and with the olive oil and polenta this cake has a very rustic Italian feel to it and an extract would have taken it out of that rustic realm.

1/2 cup Mission Olive Oil

1 cup Sugar

3 Eggs

3/4 cup All-Purpose Flour

1 cup Cornmeal

1 tsp Sea Salt

1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 cup Buttermilk

1/2 cup Sliced Almonds, toasted + more to sprinkle on at serving time

Preheat your oven to 325F and line a round cake pan with parchment paper and oil the sides.

Combine the flour, cornmeal, salt, baking soda and baking powder in a bowl and whisk to distribute the ingredients.

In the bowl of your mixer combine the olive oil and sugar and blend until it is a light yellow color. Add in the eggs one at a time incorporating each one completely before adding the next.

Add in the dry ingredients and the milk a little at a time alternating between the two beginning and ending with flour. Stir in the toasted almonds. Pour into the pan and place in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour or whenever the toothpick comes out clean. Be sure to check it periodically the top tends to brown quite fast so you may want to make a little foil tent for the top to slow it down a bit.

Cool the cake for at least 10 minutes before un-molding. Serve sliced with a drizzle of the olive oil honey topping, a sprinkle of toasted almonds and a sprig of thyme.

The Topping

1/4 cup Honey

1/4 cup Mission Olive Oil

1 tsp Fresh Thyme Leaves

Combine the ingredients in a small sauce pan and warm over low heat. It should not be very hot.

I can’t reiterate this enough, be careful with the topping, it can be as hot as lava and as sticky as napalm. Warm it gently, you do not want to burn your guests (I hope) or yourself.