Chocolate Date Cake

I look forward to the December edition of various magazines. I took my time and looked around and ended up buying perennial favourites in this household - Martha Stewart, Food & Wine and Gourmet. I usually don't mess around with Thanksgiving menu ( I would have been shot if I did). But I am adventurous when it comes to Christmas. I have a few new recipes in mind that I hope to share with you.

I fell in love with the picture of this cake when I saw it in the December edition of Martha Stewart magazine. The cake looked rich and decadent..and who doesn't love a decadent chocolate cake!? And it was exactly that and more. So good! I took it to a potluck and was hoping to bring the leftovers home but alas, no such luck.

This cake can be made ahead of time. It stays moist up to 3 days. Can't beat that especially this time of the year when you have a hundred things to do.

It is important to have all the ingredients at room temperature for this cake ( like most cakes). I used Medjool dates in this recipe.


Chocolate Date Cake - adapted from Martha Stewart

Cake
1 1/4 cup water
2o dates - pitted and chopped+ 4 dates pitted and halved
2 Tb spiced rum
2 Tb coffee
4 TB cocoa powder
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
12 Tb unsalted butter - room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
4 large eggs
5 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped, melted and cooled slightly

Glaze
4 Tb unsalted butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup
pinch of salt
2 Tb cream
4 oz semisweet chocolate - chopped
1 Tb spiced amber rum


Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 9 inch round cake pan with parchment paper and set aside.
Boil water. Take water of the heat and pour in a heatproof bowl. Add chopped dates, rum, coffee and 2 tablespoons of sifted cocoa powder. Let sit for half an hour. Puree this mixture till smooth in a blender. Reserve 3/4 cup of puree for the topping.

Combine flour, salt, cocoa powder, baking powder and cinnamon and aside.

Cream butter and sugar till pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time.

Pour in flour and pureed date mixture alternately in three stages. Pour in melted chocolate. Pour batter in prepared pan and bake for 50 - 60 minutes - test for doneness with a toothpick. Cool baked cake on a rack.

Glaze - boil butter, sugar, corn syrup, water and salt. Stir. Boil for 3 minutes and remove from heat. Stir in cream ( I used a whisk) , chopped chocolate and rum. Let cool for 15 minutes. This allows the chocolate to thicken to a lovely consistency.

To glaze cake:

Trim the top of the cake so that the surface will be flat. Serrated knife does the job best. Spread the reserved date puree on the top of cake and enrobe it with the smooth and velvety topping. Adorn the cake with halved dates.

This cake can be made ahead of time. It stays moist up to 3 days.

Glazed Pearl Onions

I made these glazed onions over the holidays. It goes well with most meats and can be made way ahead of time. The onions do not come peeled and it takes time to patiently peel these little guys. I love onions and these were well worth the time and effort.

You could also make it with peeled frozen onions that are available in the frozen section of the grocery store. I prefer the mixture of fresh red, yellow and white onions.

All you need to make this dish is 6 oz of little onions. Pick through the onions and discard rotten ones if any. Fill a bowl with ice cold water and set aside. Boil 3 cups of water in a pot and blanch onions for 30 seconds. Drain and add onions to the bowl of cold water.

To peel the onions you need to cut the top off and peel back to the root and cut the roots off.

Combine onions, 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 1/2 tablespoons of sugar, 1/4 cup of vegetable stock, one bay leaf and 2 roughly bruised stalks of fresh rosemary and bring to a boil on medium high heat. I used fresh bay leaf that I still have growing in a pot on a windowsill in my house. Dried herbs can be substituted for fresh herbs. You could also use water instead of stock. Stir occasionally.

Once the liquid evaporates, add 1/4 cup of red wine and 4 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Boil and turn off heat off. This side dish can be served hot or hold. Store in fridge till you are ready to use but if you are an onion lover like me, I doubt it will last long in the fridge!

Cranberry Sauce

Home made cranberry sauce..who has the time you say. Trust me on this one. It takes only 15 minutes to make this and it tastes wonderful. It will keep for weeks in the fridge. The star anise, cardamom and cloves add just a hint of spice without being overbearing on the palate. Candied ginger adds an element of surprise at every bite.

Cranberry Sauce
1 bag fresh cranberries - 12 oz bag
1 3/4 cup of sugar
zest and juice of one orange
2 tb chopped candied ginger
2 star anise
3 cardamom pods
4 cloves
1 cup water

Cook cranberries with one cup of water on medium high heat till the fruits pop. I used a heavy bottomed sauce pan with high sides.
Add sugar, juice, zest, spices and candied ginger and cook for another 10 minutes. Taste and swoon. Leave in the fridge and get ready to amaze everyone tomorrow!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Roast Turkey Breast With Herbs de Provence

Turkey breast seems to be a better choice for Thanksgiving instead of a whole turkey if you are not planning to have a houseful of guests ( like yours truly).

I brined the turkey breast 6 hours rather than the fully recommended 12 to 24 hours. The brining process is long but you will be rewarded with moist and succulent meat. You could also brine the whole turkey. I had to use the turkey roaster because I do not have a pot large enough for the brining process.


Herbs de Provence typically consists of a dry mixture of rosemary, thyme, lavender, basil and bay leaf. It is usually used to grill meats, poultry, fish, vegetables, and flavour stews. Here it infused the turkey breast with the aromatic flavour of the various herbs.



Turkey breast with Herbs De Provence.
brining liquid:
1/2 cup of kosher salt
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/3 cup of pomegranate juice
1 Tb whole allspice
1 Tb whole black peppercorns
4 bay leaves
10 fresh sage leaves - mine were large so I tore it in half
6 sprigs of fresh thyme

I combined all my brining ingredients in a turkey roaster and stirred it until the salt and sugar dissolved.
Pour enough water to cover the turkey breast. Set in fridge for 12 - 24 hours.

roasting ingredients:
1 lemon cut into 6 wedges
1 tb herbs of Provence
1 tb olive oil
2 tb butter
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3/4 tsp kosher salt
6 sprigs fresh rosemary
6 sprigs fresh sage

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Take turkey breast out of brining liquid. Pick off pieces of spices stuck on the skin.
Pat dry with a paper towel.
Wash turkey roaster is you have been brining the turkey breast in it before setting the turkey in it to roast.

Melt butter with salt, olive oil, freshly ground black pepper and herbs de Provence. Set to cool a bit.
Gently loosen the skin of the turkey breast with your hands (you can always skip this part if you are not up to it). Rub the butter mixture all over and inside the skin of the turkey. Set the thus slathered turkey on a bed of sage, rosemary, thyme and wedges of lemon. I also tossed in some peeled carrots cut thickly on an angle together with wedges of red onion ( one large onion cut into 6 wedges). This adds a wonderful flavour to the gravy - if gravy is your thing.

Roast for 20 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees. The total roasting time is one hour and 15 minutes. I also used a meat thermometer to test for doneness. Just to make sure - rare turkey is not a good thing! Let roast rest for 15-20 minutes before carving.

Stay tuned, more holiday recipes to come.

Kofta Curry

Kofta is basically meatball seasoned with aromatic spices and herbs. This is the South Asian variation of it ( with my touch of course). The meatballs can be made ahead of time and set aside. It is boiled in the curry with no deep frying before hand. I find this handy as it cuts down the cooking time. Lamb is usually the meat of choice but you could also use minced chicken or turkey.

Kofta Curry
Meatballs:
1 lb lean minced lamb
2 tb minced fresh mint
1/2 medium red onion - minced
1 tb fresh cilantro -minced
1 tsp ginger -minced
1 green chili (jalapeno) - minced
3/4 tsp salt

Curry:
1 medium onion - chopped fine
1 tb minced ginger
1 cup crushed tomatoes
1 cup water
salt to taste
1 green chili - I used jalapeno
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced ginger
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
4 cardamom pods
4 cloves
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tb chopped cilantro
2 tb olive oil

Mix all ingredients with minced lamb and roll them into small meatball - I like mine dainty so I used 1 heaped teaspoon of meat to roll into balls. Set meatballs aside.


Heat olive oil in pan on medium heat. Saute cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, cloves and onions till fragrant and onion should turn golden ( You could pick out the whole spices if you wish once the curry is cooked.. especially cloves)

Add chopped green chilis, garlic, ginger and saute for 5 minutes. Mix chili powder, turmeric, cumin and coriander powders in a bowl and add to the pan. Saute till fragrant. It takes only a minute ( the spices will burn and turn bitter if sauteed any longer). Pour water and crushed tomatoes into the pan. Put the lid on and bring curry to a boil covered.


Add meatballs gently into the boiling gravy. Cover again and cook for 10 minutes. I cooked mine uncovered for an extra 7 minutes to thicken the gravy. Add garam masala and cilantro to the pan and stir. Turn off heat. Enjoy!!

This can be served over rice, coussous, naan or chappati. I served it with panner stuffed chappati. Kofta curry keeps well and could be made ahead of time and like most curries it will taste better the next day. Serves 5.