Some days are meant for rich, moist cakes with cream cheese frosting.  This carrot cake had to be hidden in our bodega lest it be devoured by overly anxious family members with intense sweet tooths.  It is sweet, which is why I use a little less sugar than the original recipe calls for, and it is meant for those who can handle desserts, people like myself who have never turned their back on a sweet sweet challenge.

For those of you with a discerning eye you may notice that there is the slightest indentation on the right side of the cake.  My dad poked the cake with his finger while transferring it to the dinner table.  He did a pretty good job of covering it up, but I caught him!

I love this carrot cake not only because it is moist and soft but also because it has coconut and pineapple.  Cream cheese frosting is the kind of frosting I could lick from the spoon with only the twinge of guilt to stop me from going back for more.

Carrot Cake

Adapted from Magnolia Bakery

Ingredients

Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon (I added almost 2 teaspoons)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable oil (preferably canola)
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups lightly packed shredded carrots
One 8-ounce can crushed pineapple in its own juice, with juice
1 cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans
3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Icing
1 pound (two 8-ounce packages) cream cheese, softend and cut into small pieces.
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and cut into small pieces
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

Garnish
Shredded coconut

Cake
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Grease and lightly flour two 9×2-inch round cake pans (or three if you want a three layer cake with slightly thinner layered), then line the bottoms with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.  In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat together the oil and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until light and thick, about two minutes. Add the vanilla and beat well.

Gradually add the dry ingredients, beating until well incorporated.  Stir in the carrots, pineapple and juice, pecans and coconut.  Divide the batter between the prepared pans and bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Let the layers cool in the pans for 1 hour (I left them cool for about 10 minutes, and they popped right out). Remove from the pans and cool completely on wire racks.  When the cake has cooled, ice between the layers, then ice the top and sides of the cake with the cream cheese icing. Garnish with coconut or toasted pecans as desired.

Icing
In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth, about 3 minutes.  Add the vanilla and beat well.  Gradually add the sugar, one cup at a time, beating continuously until smooth and creamy.  Cover and refrigerate icing for 2 to 3 hours, but no longer, to thicken before using.

I have two neon band aids on both of my pointer fingers and a few burnt red scars on my arms, proof of a particularly clumsy week at school.  Someone told me that there is a bar in the Village that offers a free beer to people with cooking scars as an industry special.  I am determined to find this bar on my less coordinated weeks.

Life has been busy and stressful.  I have my first final for culinary school on Tuesday which will cover our textbook of well over 300 pages.  It will also be our first practical, meaning we will be wielding our knives and cutting our vegetables into uniform shapes in front of our arbitrating chef instructors.  Slightly intimidating if you ask me, but some small masochistic side of my personality is a little excited about the idea.  In a way it is like a fake quick fire challenge.  I half expect Tom Collichio to pop in and ask us how we are doing.

I should have been studying.  I should have been home cutting mounds of onions and vegetables like a crazed Meryl Streep playing Julia Child in Julie & Julia, but I let my stress, my worries, and my overall somber mood take over.  I let the procrastinator take over and I went to Liberty State Park in Jersey City to take a stroll along the pier with my favorite little man.

We both sat enjoying the view of the southern tip of Manhattan, next to a few guys fishing in the Hudson.  Every so often a fish would bite and they would reel them in and toss them back a few minutes later.  I wonder if they’ve ever brought the fish home and ate them.  Urban legend tells of freaky fish along this stretch of the Hudson, not unlike Blinky the three eyed fish caught by Bart Simpson in Springfield, but I will stand by my precious Hudson and whatever creepy crawlers that may inhabit it.

The lazy day may have setback my study schedule, but it did provide some much needed amount of nothingness.  You know the necessity to do absolutely nothing.  It’s good for the soul and I plan on fitting it in on a more consistent basis.

Tonight I will be chopping more vegetables and paring Idaho potatoes into eight 7-sided bullets called a cocottes.  We have 15 minutes to turn one potato into 8 perfectly uniform French bullets.  To give you an idea of the shape that makes most culinary students cringe, check them out below.  From what I hear, after using them at school, we will never have to use them again.  Nonetheless I will dedicate myself to these French exactitudes while watching old episodes of Top Chef on my DVR.

Here are the cocottes as well as some caramelized pearl onions before we tossed them into our lamb stew.

Do lobsters have feelings?  You try not to think about it when your chef asks you to hack a live lobster in half.  With your chef knife in hand and the squirmy guy on your cutting board suddenly those claws look less intimidating and those beady little eyes start to look something like this.

Despite my trembling hands and conflicting feelings over the guy (so yummy yet so very much alive) I was successful, although not without a few laughs at my expense from our chef.  I hesitated at first, but frankly it’s like ripping off a band aid.  You have to do it quick or it will hurt more, and I’m guessing that’s the same for the lobster.

Most shellfish needs to be alive when you cook them.  That goes for all sorts of clams, mussels, barnacles, etc.  For the most part snails come in a jar in the US, although you can cook them alive.  I will be scarred forever after an anecdote our chef told us about a few snail runaways, escaping their pot and sliding their way up the wall.  I don’t think I could handle coming into the kitchen and seeing dinner slithering away from the table.

So the moment of truth came.  It was time to cook the snails.  After we doused them in butter, garlic, and parsley we had to eat them.  I slopped one on a piece of bread and I was ready to take the first bite.  You really don’t taste like anything except the butter and garlic and the texture is very similar to other shellfish like a mussel, chewy and a bit rubbery.  The surprise was that they weren’t half bad!  If you can get over your preconceptions or the thought of dinner escaping out of a pot, they taste pretty decent.

We seared the scallops and then plated them with a warmed parsley coulis.  Coulis is a fancy word for a strained sauce.  For a parsley coulis you blanch parsley and them puree it with your stock.  The mussels are prepared in typical Mediterranean fare, with wine, parsley, black pepper, and some fat (in this case butter).

It bothers me when people look at food and call something gross, especially when time, effort, and talent went into a dish.  However we also have the right to not like a dish.  We all have different palates and customs, and while I may find something delicious, I won’t force my friends to eat the squid legs or shrimp heads if it freaks them out.  Besides, more for me.

There are plenty of dishes that I don’t enjoy.  I’m not a huge fan of zucchini or cauliflower and I don’t get particularly excited over the idea of tripe or pig’s ears, but I’ve eaten them.  When offered food I always try to taste it before I make an opinion, but there is one food item that has conquered me, no contest.

Snails!  I just can’t bring myself to eat the little guys.  I just can’t do it!  It probably has something to do with my pet snail I found in our backyard as a kid.  My little 8 year old hands successfully squashed the snail’s shell, killing my pet and my childhood joy.  The guilt is overwhelming.

Tonight it is shellfish night and snails fall into this category (they have a shell after all).  So by tomorrow I will have cooked and most probably eaten a snail.

This is a picture of my grandmother doing what she loves best, working in the garden.  Do you see all those collard greens?  Her garden has gotten smaller over the years, but she always has something growing in her backyard.

Food we’ve grown up eating makes an indelible impression on people.  It can bring us back to a place and time in our lives.  When I eat collard greens I am taken back to my grandmother’s garden, bursting of greens that I used to snub as a child and can’t wait to eat today.   Everyone’s experience with food is uniquely personal, which is why I get excited over an octopus boiling away on a hot stove while others may smile over a steaming bowl of pot roast and scalloped potatoes.

Spanish food is very important to me.  A passion you could say, something I hope to share with other people in hopes that they find it is as intriguing and as incredibly tasty as I do.  I’ve been thinking about doing a Spanish food series, posts where I can muse over the food I  grew up eating, the ingredients, the spices, the regions, the dishes, the memories.  I hope you enjoy.

Do you like potatoes?  Of course you do.  They are the most widely consumed vegetable in the United States and the fourth most consumed vegetable in the world, so chances are you love the starch.

Yesterday was potato night so we peeled, blanched, poached, and deep fried all night long.  I love potatoes, but by the end of the night I was saying no to french fries, a very rare occurrence for me, especially when they are out there for the taking.  Each dish had a French name and used more precise knife cuts than what I’m used to doing back home.  For thin cuts we used the frightening mandoline, a device precise enough to make a gaufrette, and sharp enough to slice off a piece of your palm.

I was only able to catch a picture of one dish, probably the most overindulgent of the evening.  Whoever thought of putting potato puree made with whole milk, cream, and butter inside of a deep-fried potato basket is either a junk food genius or completely out of their mind.  On top of the puree I placed a few pieces of the gravlax our instructor made.  After a couple of days curing in salt and herbs, we were finally able to taste the salmon and it was soft and surprisingly not salty.  Flavorful and keeping with my month long obsession of eating lots of raw or semi-cured fish.

We made the potato puree (fancy way of saying mashed potatoes) by taking boiled potatoes and mixing them through a potato ricer.  I’ve never heard of a potato ricer before, preferring the traditional way of mashing potatoes with little more than a fork.  The contraption really creates smooth, mashed potatoes.  The potato basket was deep fried after we used the mandoline to make gaufrettes.  While I wouldn’t stick more potatoes inside a potato basket, overkill if you ask me, I have considered many other possibilities: shredded beef like Cuban ropa vieja or maybe some ceviche, a different interpretation of traditional fish and chips.  Ideas are welcome.

You need to take advantage of your berries.  In a couple of month berries will go back to their smaller, less flavorful, slightly sour, sad selves.  I’m trying to be more of an optimist so let’s focus on the fact that we have at least two whole months of berry consumption ahead of us.

This summer my baking has taking a small hiatus.  The oven makes the house extremely hot and frankly the desire to bite into a flaky pastry has diminished, taken over by the desire to scoop up bowls of ice cream and frozen yogurt. There is however one tart that has withstood the heat of summer and pleased some barbecue goers or two.  This little, lemon raspberry tart right here.

It is a personal quest of mine to master pastry as if I was born into a patiserrie owning family in the 5th arrondissement of Paris.  I want to be able to make dough with ease and have it come out of the oven, flaky and buttery and really freaking good.  It isn’t an easy feat, one that has given me much grief in the past.  It will require lots of practice and even more butter.

Fruit tarts are especially great in the summer, for obvious reasons.  Berry tarts are the absolute best.  I can eat raspberries and blackberries until I am sick to my stomach.  In Spain we would pick blackberries on the dusty paths that led to our grandparents’ house and sometimes make them into jam.  In our little suburb we don’t have the pleasure of wild grown berries so I had to make do with the raspberries I found at the market.  They were ripe and sweet, ready to be put on top of this tart.  This particular recipe combines the sweet taste of raspberries with the tartness of lemon, a perfect combination for the summer sweet tooth.

Fair warning to those who only like a small amount of lemon zest in their desserts.  This tart has a strong citrus flavor because you use the whole lemon, the juice, the flesh, and the lemon zest.  The raspberries balance out the tartness very nicely.  I got the recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s blog, but instead of scattering the berries on top of the crust, I placed them on top of the lemon custard.

Lemon Raspberry Tart

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan adapted from Cafe Boulud Cookbook

Ingredients

The crust
1 partially baked pate brisee pie crust (traditional pastry crust).

The filling
2 medium lemons
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 cups raspberries

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F.

Finely grate the zest of both lemons; set aside. With a small knife, cut off the top and bottom of each lemon and then carefully cut away the cottony white pith and a tiny bit of flesh from each lemon—the juicy sections of lemon should now be completely exposed. Lay the lemons on their sides and cut each lemon crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices; remove the seeds.

Place the lemon slices, eggs, yolks and sugar in the container of a blender and puree until smooth. Strain the mixture into a bowl and whisk in the reserved zest and the cream. Give the bowl a good rap against the kitchen counter to debubble it—if there are bubbles in the cream now, there will be bubbles in your tart later.

Pour the filling into the pastry crust. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the filling is set in the center. Transfer the tart to a rack and cool to room temperature.  When the custard completely cool you can place your raspberries on the top.

Sure I’ve been to Los Angeles a couple times and enjoyed the temperate weather, the laid back manner, the cute surfers, and many restaurants but when I really thought about it I never actually touched the ocean.  I had gone to Santa Monica but at the time it was much too cold to swim so it never really occurred to me that while I have seen the Pacific, I never actually touched it.  Naturally this time I had to do it, and here is my proof.

We walked down the shores of Hermosa Beach where surfers were catching waves and we were lamely dipping our feet in the water.  On the pier there were lots of people fishing and a group of boys who proudly running up and down the pier trying to scare the tourists with their catch.  I felt bad for the fish, which is completely hypocritical since I eat tons of his fishy little friends every week, however I feel that the yummy little guy should get some sort of mercy, maybe a swift whack on the head, instead of choking to death on air.

Our next stop was Malibu, and while I was secretly hoping to run into Jennifer Aniston and friends, I was perfectly content with eating fresh seafood by the beach.  We went to Malibu Seafood.  Typically I’m not a fan of fish and chips but these were delicious, perfectly juicy without being soggy.  The fish was cod and it was fresh and battered, fried, and then dipped in a malt vinegar and tartar sauce combo.  It pleased me to no end.  While the fish and chips were great the steamed mussels were even better.  They were either steamed or cooked directly in the garlic and mussel juice sauce (seafood always tastes better when cooked in their own juices).

After eating and walking the beach we went to the Getty, but I shall write about the museum and it’s extensive herb garden soon.  For now I leave you, as we left Malibu, on the Pacific Coast Highway…

Happy Shark Week everyone!  My friend bought me a stuffed Great White Shark, not very menacing but lots of fun.  We’ve been playing with it all weekend in celebration of Shark Week.

Her boyfriend also shares my weird obsession with sharks.  He has this shark hanging from the doorway.  The best part is that it’s a shark water gun!  Happy Shark Week!

Only 15 minutes in Los Angeles and naturally our first stop was food related.  Before even heading home to drop off my bags we made our way out to Kogi Taco Truck!  I’ve done my research and while I am miles too late for this trend, there is no Korean Taco truck in NYC that I know of.  So of course this was on our game plan.  First activity in Los Angeles, eat Korean tacos… check.

The main idea behind this craze is taking Korean BBQ and wrapping it in a Mexican envelope, as my friend so cleverly points out.   Both cuisines go very well together and the tacos have a touch of heat.  The most popular taco is the spicy pork so I ordered one as well as the short rib taco and one of the specials of the day, a calamari taco.  These tacos definitely live up.  If I lived here, I could see myself following the truck’s on twitter in order to catch a meal.

The calamari was soft and well cooked, a feat that can be difficult for restaurants to execute.  The flavor is sweet and spicy, a combination I could eat over and over again.  If I had to chose a favorite it would be the short rib.  I could eat spiced beef tacos over and over again and never get tired.

Last weekend Ratatouille was on TV and by no means was that the reason why I was obsessed with perfecting my ratatouille all week.  The movie is about a food loving mouse with a dream of becoming a chef and oddly I can relate to the little guy.  He just wants to cook!

Our kitchen has been overflowing with red, ripe tomatoes, long Chinese eggplant, zucchini, and peppers of all kinds.  They are practically begging to be made into vegetable stew, and in this case ratatouille, a French stew from Provence.

My dad’s garden has turned into a jungle, bearing tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, collards, and more.  I wonder what my neighbors think when they see me carefully posing tomatoes on top of eachother outside their window.  The tomatoes in particular are so full of flavor I almost wish this horrible, bad hair day enducing weather would last all year round.  Look at the color on these bad boys!

These peppers were bought at a farmer’s market, however we do have some growing out there.  As of late we’ve been frying up Italian and Padron peppers much to my delight.  This stew creates wonderfully earthy flavors.  Try to get fresh herbs if you can.  They really make all the difference.

Ratatouille

Many people have different ways of cooking ratatouille.  The great thing about vegetable stews is that there is always room for change and personal preferences.  If you have left over eggplant include it even though the recipe may call for a little less.  Make it the way you like it.  This particular recipe is adapted from the French Culinary Institute.

Ingredients
1/2 medium onion
2 medium tomatoes
1/2 green pepper, medium diced
1/2 red pepper, medium diced
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 eggplant, medium diced
1/2 zucchini, medium diced

Herbs
Thyme
Bay leaf
Peppercorns
Parsley and stems
Basil

Place a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and let it get hot before you throw in your diced onions.  Add salt to the onions to allow them to sweat.  Lower the heat and cook for about 5 minutes until the onions start to get a little translucent.  Now add your diced peppers and let them cook for another 5 minutes until they are soft.

Now you will need to peel and roughly chop your tomatoes. You can stick them in boiling water for a minute in order to facilitate the peeling process.  Remove and strain the seeds and save the tomato juice.

Once your peppers are cooked you can add your chopped tomatoes.  After a couple minutes add the tomato juice as well as your herbs.  The herbs should be wrapped in a cheese cloth but you could also use a tea pouch.  Let the mixture simmer on a low heat while you cook the zucchini and eggplant in another pan.

Before you cook your eggplant you need to disgorge it.  In order to disgorge you need to apply salt which will make the excess water come out of the eggplant.  Once the water is extracted you can add the eggplant to a pan of hot olive oil and cook until brown.  Set aside.  Next cook the zucchini the same way.

Mix in your zucchini and eggplant into your tomato and pepper mixture.  Let everything cook for about 15-20 minutes allowing the flavors to really build.

They say it is good luck to cut yourself on your first day of culinary school, at least that is what our chef instructor told us.  Well if that is true then I am going to be a lucky girl this year!  I’m sure his theory is a futile attempt at making the injured feel better about themselves.   There was nothing I could do to stop it.  The sharp side of my knife pulled like a magnet attracted to metal slicing the tip of my middle finger.  I was the third person to cut themselves so I had some bloody company.  One of the chef instructors took me to the back of the room to the first aid kit and tended to my wound and bruised ego.

For anyone thinking of going to culinary school there are many differences compared to home cooking .  One such difference is the importance on knife cuts, or as the French say taillage.  Oh those French and their exacting ways.  Your cuts need to be uniform in order to ensure even cooking and a more pleasing look.  Food must not only taste good but look good.  In home kitchens, where speed and utility often outweigh aesthetics, you don’t need to be as accurate.  The main goal is often a healthy and delicious meal.

Jardinieres, juliennes, macedoines, and brunoises sure look pretty don’t they?  You may doubt that you can extract these forms from something as un-cube like as a carrot but it is possible and with practice I am assured that it gets much easier.

Take a look at this tutorial from chow.com if you are interested in learning these knife skills.

Lately I’ve spent my nights in front of my cutting board slicing carrots into equal and uniform dices.  I’ve gotten quite accustomed to coming home from work and pulling out the cutting board and watching mindless TV as I chop away at extra large carrots.  Needless to say I’ve had lots of carrots this week and the rest will get dumped into my vegetable stock.

Image via: chow.com