(Photo created on PicFrame)

Ah, the humble moka pot. Also known as the caffettiera, the beautiful throwback to 1930s design, ubiquitous in Italian kitchens. Perfect for that afternoon pick-me-up, the intensity of the brew standing somewhere between espresso and strong drip coffee. It works by filling the bottom reservoir with water and placing it on heat, which creates pressure that brings water into the top reservoir, passing through a middle chamber holding the ground coffee. We bought the model above—a classic original Bialetti—on our honeymoon in Florence in 2008 and it lives on our stovetop.

In the moka pot directions below, you’ll see that we call for loading it up with boiled water, and this is a good tip we picked up a couple of years ago that changed the way our moka pot coffee tastes. Pre-boiling the water will not only make the process quicker, but it will also smooth out the flavor and reduce bitterness due to less time in contact with heat. (Coffee and heat are touchy dance partners: not enough, and the brew is too slow; too much, and you’ll burn the delicate oils that give coffee its delicious taste.)

Here’s how to brew a perfect cup of moka pot coffee for the Bialetti 2-cup model:
1. Boil water in a kettle.
2. Meanwhile, grind 2 Tbsp. coffee beans medium grind (resembling coarse sand), or enough to fill the filter.
3. Pour the boiling water in the bottom reservoir, up to just below the steam valve.
4. Place the filter in the bottom reservoir.
5. Screw on the top reservoir to the bottom. CAUTION: the bottom reservoir will be hot—use a dry kitchen towel or potholder to hold the bottom steady while you screw the top on.
6. Place the entire pot on the stovetop and heat to high. The heating process should take 30 seconds to 1 minute. IMPORTANT: remove from the heat as soon as you hear it gurgling. It’s best if you can catch it before it gurgles, in fact, because too much gurgled coffee will make your cup bitter.

Prego!

The quote comes from St. Augustine, also known as Augustine of Hippo, an influential bishop and theologian in 4th-Century Roman Africa. Though we don’t know which piece the quote is originally extracted from, we know from personal experience that there’s enough truth in it to stand alone. That is, though we do believe that “every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17), we also know that we have a responsibility to be good stewards of whatever gifts we’ve been given, whether it’s our families, a community, a small business, a river where we get our drinking supply, fresh vegetables, or even a sturdy old farm table.

Here’s to catching whatever breeze comes your way.

Here’s the modified recipe, adapted from our original post:

INGREDIENTS
Wet:
3 eggs
2 tsp. sugar
3/4 c milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
feta, cheddar, and parmigiano-reggiano cheeses, crumbled coarsely

Dry:
3/4 c flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon

Additional:
2 links of sausage, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 425º F.
2. Whisk together wet ingredients.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. Combine with wet ingredients until just mixed.
4. Cook sausage in skillet until browned. Pour in batter over sausage pieces.
5. Bake in oven for 16–18 mins, until center of pancake is cooked. (The toothpick test works for this: stick a toothpick in the middle, and if it comes out clean, it’s done.) The pancake will deflate a little while it rests, and that’s OK.
6. Enjoy like blinis with a dollop of sour cream on top!

What will you put in your savory puffed pancakes?

On the newest iteration of our business cards that coincided with our move last summer, we whittled down our offerings to the following 3 categories: funky branding, whimsical hand-lettering and illustration, and playful photography. (See the image for our business card back here.) These are the things we love to do the most, and we had the pleasure last week of sending off files for not only a funky brand, but also our first local funky brand.

Biophilia is a happy little shop run by Danielle Toronyi, a landscape designer who focuses on helping people create their own gardens, keep livestock, and just generally promotes living a healthy, sustainable life! We met her when we were parked next to her booth at the Rock & Shop Market in Durham last December where she shared her tea with us and complimented our work. Little did we know she would be following up with a full branding request and partial trade! We’re so stoked to have her come out and survey our land when spring gets closer (so we can expand our family farm in our new place). She’s been so great to work with!

As you can see above we created a logo for her shop, as well as some labels for some of her kits, business cards, an Etsy banner and avatar, and other little promotional odds and ends (not all pictured in this post).

Definitely take a stroll around her lovely Etsy shop and get inspired for your summer garden!

For the week of Valentine’s Day, we have a special unscheduled blog post featuring our spin on cheesecake: a standard cheesecake batter on a base of crumbled shortbread. Several years ago we came up with it as a dessert idea when we were in preliminary talks with a property manager about the opportunity to manage and eventually own a coffee shop. Thankfully we let the coffee shop idea escape us, but the recipe idea remained, and this is its public debut. It’s perfect for Tuesday’s upcoming holiday, and it’s applicable whether you’re in a relationship or not; because regardless of your status as “taken” or “single,” it’s advisable for coronary health to reserve this dessert for rare occasions!

But let’s face it, not everyone will have someone on Valentine’s Day, so this cake is especially good for helping you forget your troubles. So why not cuddle up with a mouthwatering piece of cake instead? And if you are with someone, well, share the love.

Note: We adapted the shortbread recipe Nancy Silverton’s Pastries from the La Brea Bakery and the cheesecake recipe from Miette: Recipes from San Francisco’s Most Charming Pastry Shop. The shortbread recipe will make a whole quarter sheet pan of 2.5 x 1″ shortbread cookies, 1/4 of which you’ll need for the cakes. You can either bake the full shortbread amount and use 1/4 for the cookies, quarter the shortbread dough and freeze the rest for later, or just quarter the recipe from the beginning.

Invitation: Post a comment below if you use our recipe! Photos welcome and even encouraged. (Bakeries, this goes for you, too!)

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HEARTBREAK CAKE
(Makes three 3-inch cheesecakes)

SHORTBREAD
Ingredients:
2 sticks (1/2 pound) butter, chilled, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/4 c granulated sugar
1/4 c powdered sugar
2 c flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:
1. In a stand mixer, cream butter until softened, 2–3 minutes.
2. Add sugars and cream on medium, 3–4 minutes.
3. Sift flour and salt together.
4. Add in 3 batches to the butter & sugar until just combined.
5. Gather into a ball, flatten to a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least 2 hours.
6. Remove from fridge and roll out into a rectangle, 1/2″ thick.
7. Cut into bars and prick with toothpicks. (We use Walker’s shortbread as a model!)
8. Lay out on a sheet pan and chill in fridge until hard (at least 30 mins.) Meanwhile, preheat oven to 300º F.
9. Bake for 20 mins, until lightly golden.
10. Let cool—unlike normal cookies, they’re best when they’ve cooled completely.

CHEESECAKE
Ingredients:
3/4 cup crumbed shortbread
1 lb. cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 c sugar
2 large eegs
1/4 c heavy cream
3/4 tsp. vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350º F. Crumb shortbread and divide evenly between three 3-inch springform pans. (We used the heart ones Target had temporarily been selling for V-day this year.)
2. Bake 5–8 minutes, until golden. Remove from oven.
3. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the room-temperature cream cheese on high, 3–4 minutes, until fluffy.
4. Add sugar and whip until fully combined.
5. On low, add eggs one at a time. (Beaten eggs retain air, which you don’t want for cheesecake, because in the oven the air will expand and break the surface of the cheesecake—so make sure you mix slowly at this point.)
6. Add heavy cream and vanilla.
7. Scrape mixture into another bowl, straining it through a fine mesh sieve. This a Miette trick that will get out all unmixed lumps of cream cheese and give your cheesecake a velvety texture.
8. Divide evenly between your three springform pans. Place them on a sheet pan and bake at 350º F for 45 minutes, or until lightly golden on top and when you can stick a toothpick in the middle and it comes out clean.
9. Let cool completely in the fridge. We dressed ours with a simple berry jam.
10. Scarf, “unbroken” or “broken.” (For optional “broken” state: using a sharp knife, dipping it in water and shaking off excess, carve the jagged “break” line in your heart.)

Happy early Valentine’s Day everyone! Hope you enjoy this recipe!

DINOS!

Here’s our recipe, adapted from The Cook’s Book: Concise Edition.

—– 

CRUMPETS
(Makes 3)

INGREDIENTS
1/2 c flour
1 T sugar
1 tsp. yeast
1/4 tsp. salt
5 T warm milk (90º F)
1 tsp. baking soda, dissolved in 1 T boiling water

DIRECTIONS
1. Whisk flour, sugar, yeast, salt, together in a medium bowl.
2. Heat milk and stir in.
3. Cover with a towel and let ferment for at least 45 mins. or until bubbles are scattered across the surface of the batter.
4. With 15 minutes remaining, lightly grease a large, heavy skillet. If you’re using baking rings (we used heart molds from Target), lightly grease and place on skillet. Begin heating skillet and molds on medium-low.
5. When batter is ready, stir in dissolved baking soda.
6. After about 3–4 minutes, you should be able to flip. Carefully check the bottom of a crumpet with a spatula; if it’s deep golden brown, remove the mold and flip.
7. Let the other side cook for 1/2 the time, or until golden.
8. Scarf.

We’re kicking off our Instagrams of the Week on the blog today and this one was taken, well, today! We just finished our Valentine’s Day advent where we will get to open a fun gift from each other every day leading up to the Big Red and this is one of Joel’s gifts in action. He’s a LEGO man to the max so this one didn’t disappoint. Also pictured above is a branch he’s been working on wrapping in yarn to decorate our place. Fun! Happy Saturday, everyone!

And who doesn’t love crêpes? They’re one of our favorite things to eat while traveling to continental Europe, though we’ve had some amazing ones in the States as well. Thankfully—though today was actually the first time we’ve made them at home—today’s sweet and savory crêpes, with a batter adapted from The Cook’s Book: Concise Edition, were no exception. The word “crêpe” ultimately comes from the same Latin word from which we get our adjective “crisp,” and if you melt a little butter the size of a quarter between frying up each crêpe, you’ll get that delicious balance between crisp fried edges and soft eggy middle.

INGREDIENTS
(Makes 4–5)

Savory filling:
1/2 sweet onion, sliced thinly
10–12 cherry or grape tomatoes
1 T butter
pinch of salt
aged cheddar cheese (grated or sliced)

Crêpes:
1/2 c flour
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar
1 egg
1/2 c milk
1 tsp. oil or melted butter

DIRECTIONS
1. If you’re going for our savory filling, melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Turn down the heat to medium-low and sauté the onions for 10 minutes. Add the cherry tomatoes and let slowly cook, nudging occasionally, while you make the crêpe batter. The idea is to let everything soften without browning. (Save the cheese for when the crêpes are done.)
2. To make the crêpe batter, simply mix everything together in one bowl, adding in the order listed. Let rest in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.
3. Melt a small amount (about the size of a quarter) in a separate nonstick pan on medium and, once melted, add a little less than 1/4 cup of batter. Wait for about 30 seconds and then spread out the batter gently to thin out the crêpe. (For proper crêpe-making technique which we won’t go into here, check it out on Youtube!)
4. After about a minute, check the underside with a spatula. If you’re seeing small browned spots, flip.
5. After flipping, add some tomato & onion mixture and some cheese. Let sit for a minute in the pan.
6. Remove to your plate, fold, and eat!

Alternative to the savory crêpe presented here, there’s always the classic Nutella version: once you’ve removed your crêpe from the pan, smear a heap of Nutella on it, fold, and scarf. It’s definitely cheaper than a trip to Europe, and you won’t have to have your ID on you to enjoy.