Or should I call them “chocolate and cassia cupcakes?” What I always thought of as cinnamon apparently is not as it seems. Why is food so tricky? Remember what I found out about currants?

“Ceylon” or “true” cinnamon comes from the bark of the cinnamon tree, originated in Sri Lanka and is the type of cinnamon commonly used in Mexico, India and Europe.  “Cassia” cinnamon comes from the bark of a related tree and is what we are used to in the U.S., but also is popular in China. The latter is supposed to have a more pungent, less nuanced flavor. One of these days I’ll have to do a head-to-head taste test of canela vs. cassia.

Back to the chocolate. For a party, I made (way too many) cupcakes. So for now, I’ve taken a break from my ice cream eating and have switched it up to chocolate cupcakes. Not a bad deal. I was looking for something decadent but interesting, and these fit the bill. I think the addition of buttermilk is what keeps the cake nice and moist. I also thought that there might be too many flavors going on — chocolate, cinnamon and almond (in the buttercream frosting) — but they all work together well. You don’t taste the coffee — it just serves to enhance the chocolatey-ness. Bittersweet chocolate chips are a fabulous surprise when you bite into one.

This cake recipe would also be good for making a regular-sized cake — it’s one of the best chocolate cakes I’ve had.

Chocolate Cinnamon Buttermilk Cupcakes with Almond Buttercream Frosting
- makes about 30 -
Adapted from Epicurious.com

2 2/3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups freshly brewed coffee, cooled to room temperature
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate (such as Ghirardelli), chopped into small pieces

30 cupcake liners

Almond Buttercream Frosting
3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
5 1/4 c powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons whipping cream
3/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

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I’ve always loved granola. Chewy granola bars, crunchy granola bars, the granola that’s used in yogurt parfaits — I’m an equal opportunity granola eater. While not exactly low calorie, the majority of the fat found in a nutty granola is unsaturated so you don’t have to feel too guilty about eating it. As with most things, just don’t go crazy.

I made a batch of a tried and true recipe from Emeril Lagasse (BAM!) that I’ve used for years. And then after I made it Jenn reminded me that Margot had posted this master granola recipe a few months back. And you know what? They’re pretty similar! I think it just goes to show that great minds think alike

Anyway, this is one of those loose granola recipes — the kind best suited for a yogurt parfait or eaten in a bowl of milk, like cereal. Or sprinkled over ice cream. I like to think of it as the little black dress of granolas — a yummy, all-purpose granola that’s suitable for a variety of things. The recipe says it’ll keep for up to a week at room temperature in an airtight container, but I’ve kept it in the fridge for two weeks without any problems.

Granola
Adapted from Emeril Live
- makes 6 cups -

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
1/4 cup hulled green pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup crushed pecans
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup combination of dried cranberries and blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

2. In a large bowl stir together oats, almonds, coconut, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, pecans, cinnamon and salt.

3. In a small saucepan melt butter with honey over low heat, stirring. Add vanilla and pour butter mixture over oat mixture and stir until combined well.

4. On a large baking sheet, spread the granola evenly in a thin layer. Bake, stirring as necessary to keep from sticking or burning, until golden brown and crisp, about 30 minutes. Do not overbake; the granola will crisp more when cooled.

5. Cool the granola on the pan on top of the stove and stir in dried fruits.

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It turns out that California and Texas have something in common other than historically belonging to Mexico. The residents of these two states have good taste… maybe not in fashion or political candidates, but at least when it comes to summertime dessert.

Or maybe they just have more cows than anyone else.

California and Texas produce more ice cream than any other states in the nation. This summer, I have been contributing significantly to California’s economy by purchasing (and yes, eating) a lot of this product. But last weekend, we decided to save our pennies and try to capture the summer flavor of blueberries (which seem to be coming from Canada right now, by the way) with our own frozen concoction.

I love ice cream. It is especially drool-worthy when chock-full of fruit, crunchy cookies or nuts. Swathed in hot fudge. Dripping onto warm pie. Solo in a cone or in a cup. Dipped in Jimmies. Layered and frozen with cake.

Not surprisingly, something this good goes way back in history. However, after doing a little (superficial) research into the origins of ice cream, I was more confused than enlightened. Who came up with this treat of rich, creamy, frozen goodness? Was it the Chinese? Italians? French? British?

Shrouded in darkness. Cloaked in mystery. Maybe it’s that recipes were so carefully guarded over the centuries that the story has become “the myth.”

Anyways, through trial and error, I’ve found it’s important to cook the milk and cream, even if you make an ice cream without eggs – otherwise you get an ice cream that tastes greasy on the tongue. For this recipe, to intensify the blueberry flavor, I cheated a bit and added some wild blueberry preserves – which gives the finished product a good color, too.

Blueberry Ginger Snap Ice Cream

1 pint heavy cream
1 c. milk
2/3 c. sugar
1t vanilla extract
2 c. blueberries
3T wild blueberry preserves (like Bonne Maman)
12 ginger snaps

Freeze ice cream “freezer bowl” at least overnight, or according to your machine’s directions. The machine I used holds up to 1½ quarts.

Pulse blueberries in a food processor, set aside. Scald milk, cream and sugar (heat over medium heat in a saucepan until just before boiling). Stir to make sure sugar dissolves. Turn off the heat. Add half of the chunky blueberry puree to the hot cream mixture. To the other half, stir in the blueberry preserves.

When cream mixture has cooled to room temperature, stir in the reserved blueberry mixture and chill further in the refrigerator until cold.  Pour mixture into ice cream maker and make according to your machine’s directions.

While the ice cream churns, break ginger snaps by hand into small pieces or smash in a plastic bag with a meat tenderizer or rolling pin. Just before turning off the ice cream maker, add in cookie pieces and mix until incorporated.  Transfer the ice cream to a plastic container and freeze for at least a few hours, or until firm.

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I confess that I generally prefer my salmon raw, with a dab of wasabi. Perhaps with a little droplet of soy sauce. This whole pregnancy thing, though, has put a major damper on my sushi habit so for the time being, cooked salmon it is. The origin of this recipe is a little weird — it’s something I remember my mom doing. Normally not so weird, except that she exclusively cooked Cantonese food except for this and italian sausage and pasta, both of which she made pretty sparingly. Weird, right?

Whole Foods had some fresh wild Alaskan sockeye salmon, a best choice according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch list, when I cruised by the seafood counter today. I asked the fishmonger for a 5 oz. portion from the tail end of a fillet and into the basket it went. I prefer the tail end because it’s typically a little fattier and the bonus is that it cooks faster because it’s a touch thinner.

Anyway, this recipe is a cinch and perfect for a night when you really don’t feel like cooking. 10 minutes in the oven (for well-done salmon, per conservative American guidelines for pregnant women) and you’re done. You could eat it as/is, dress it up with a mustard-thyme vinaigrette, or use it in a sandwich. The possibilities are endless!

Baked Salmon with Dill and Butter
- serves 1 -

1 – 5 oz. portion of salmon, skin on
2 Tbs unsalted butter
Dried Dill
kosher salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Rinse and pat the salmon dry, and place the salmon skin side down on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Season the salmon with a pinch or so of salt. Divide the butter into 4 equal pats and dot the salmon with the butter. Sprinkle approximately a teaspoon and a half or so of dill on the salmon.

3. Put the salmon in the oven, uncovered, for 10 minutes for well-done. If you prefer yours medium rare, I would start checking it at around 8 minutes.

4. Let the salmon rest for about a minute once you pull it out of the oven and move the meat onto a plate using a spatula. You’ll find that some of the skin may stick to the foil, so leaving it on the fillet and lifting the meat from the skin after it’s cooked makes your life easier because you don’t have to worry about meat sticking to the foil.

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Tortilla española with sauteed brocollini and tomatoes.

Preparing the tortilla. I used some shallots instead of onion.

Tortilla Española
– serves 2 –

2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes (roughly 3/4 lb)
1/2 medium onion
3 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
4 eggs

Peel the potatoes, then quarter length-wise and slice about 1/8″ thick. Thinly slice the onions.

In a small bowl, stir the potatoes, onions, 2 tsp. olive oil, and 1/2 tsp. of the salt until the potatoes and onions are thoroughly coated with the oil and none of the pieces of potato are sticking together.

Heat a small nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the potato-onion mixture, turn the heat down to medium-low, cover, and cook until the potatoes are fork tender. Stir the potatoes ever 5 minutes or so. It will take about 20 minutes to cook through.

Crack the eggs into bowl you used for the potatoes and onions. Add the remaining 1/2 tsp. salt and whisk lightly. You don’t need to whip any air in or completely combine the whites and yolks.

When the potatoes are cooked, add them to the bowl with the eggs and toss to combine. Add the remaining 1 tsp. of olive oil to the skillet and turn the heat up to medium-high. You can also use spray oil if you want to use a little bit less oil, but it’s important to coat the skillet evenly. Add the potato-egg mixture to the skillet and shake the pan for 10-15 seconds to even everything out. Cook for about 2 minutes, shaking the pan every 30 seconds or so.

Now it’s time to flip the tortilla. Run a rubber spatula around the edges to loosen the tortilla from the skillet. Place a large plate upside down over the skillet. Carefully turn the whole thing over, so the tortilla comes out onto the plate. Gently slide the tortilla back into the skillet. You can smooth out any rough edges with the spatula. The top should be lightly browned, at most. Traditionally, it’s not browned at all, but I prefer a little bit of color.

Cook for another minute or two to set the other side. Use the spatula to loosen the tortilla again, then slide it out onto a plate. Serve hot out of the skillet, at room temperature, or cold.

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The Mexican food fairy visited last weekend and left delectable chilaquiles in our refrigerator. This act of kindness occurred even after we had subjected her to days of hard labor, which she effortlessly completed with sweeps of her magic wand (I want one of those).

Chilaquiles are yet another Mexican dish to love and cherish. They taste good any time of day. They are easy to serve to large groups. Also, I hear (from a very reliable source) that they are good for curing hangovers.

From what I understand, chilaquiles is like what meatloaf is to Midwesterners: a staple of the family repertoire, with no two recipes alike. Thank God it tastes nothing like meatloaf.

According to the encyclopedic cookbook, El Gran Libro de la Cocina Mexicana by Susanna Palazuelos, a version of chilaquiles was made in prehispanic times. The word “chilaquiles” derives from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs: “chilli” (chile) and quilitil (edible herb). Guess what’s in the recipe?

The Mexican food fairy makes chilaquiles with green sauce (salsa verde), though red sauce could be substituted. She says you can make the chicken and salsa days ahead of time – or even freeze them (cooked) weeks ahead of time so they are ready when you want to make this dish.

Serve with a side of black beans and a fried egg on top, if you wish.

Chilaquiles
- serves 8 -

For the salsa verde
10 tomatillos, husked
¼ of a white onion
small handful of fresh cilantro
1 clove garlic
1-2 serrano chiles (taste to see how hot they are to see how many you want)*
Chicken bullion cube (like the soft Knorr cubes that make 2 cups broth)

For the chicken
2 large chicken breasts
1 large clove garlic
¼ of a white onion
small handful of fresh cilantro
Salt
Water

For assembly
About 8 oz. (half to three-quarters of a bag) thick, yellow corn tortilla chips (Mexican “restaurant style,” NOT Tostitos)
½ white onion, sliced and rinsed
1 cup Mexican crema (like Cacique brand); if you can’t get crema, thin some sour cream with a little milk to a slightly creamy liquid consistency
Shredded Monterrey Jack cheese

To make the chicken: In a small stock pot, put raw chicken, onion, garlic, cilantro and just cover with cold water. Season with salt. Heat on medium-high until chicken is cooked, about 20 minutes. Remove chicken from water to cool; reserve cooking liquid. When chicken is cooler, use two forks to shred it.

To make the salsa verde: In a dry sauté pan, roast the tomatillos, chili, onion and garlic until golden.  Cut tomatillos in half and roughly chop the onion, garlic and cilantro. Put all in a blender with the bullion cube and some of the cooking liquid from the chicken. Blend until you get a smooth sauce. Taste and add more salt if needed.

To assemble the chilaquiles: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a 9×12” glass Pyrex, spread a thin layer of salsa verde. Add the tortilla chips. Top with shredded chicken then the rest of the salsa verde, crema, cheese and sliced onion. Bake about 15 minutes, or until all is heated through. Broil to just brown the top, 3-5 minutes.

Serve warm as-is, or top each portion with a fried egg, with a side of black beans.

* You can keep whole serrano chiles wrapped in plastic in the freezer for weeks.

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I know it’s a bit of a cliche for a food blog to have a post about roasted tomatoes, but I don’t care. I’ve had a batch of tomatoes roasting in the oven for about 6 hours now and the smell is drying me crazy. I have nothing else on the brain but those tomatoes…how many I’m just going to pluck off the sheet and eat, how many I might have on a toasted rustic deli roll from Acme Bread Company, how many I’ll try to save for a creamy pasta sauce, and how many will vanish every time Rourke cruises by the tray as it’s cooling. Argh, WHY must they take so long to cook?!?!

The first summer I tackled roasted tomatoes I was overwhelmed by the number of blog posts about it. I imagine it’s only gotten worse. Everyone has their own favorite method — cut side up or cut side down? 200 degrees F for 8 hours? 175 degrees F for 12 hours? 350 degrees for 4 hours? what herbs and seasonings?

After some trial and error of my own last summer, I’ve settled on my preferences:

• I like San Marzano tomatoes.

For the most part, you need to use a roma-type tomato, i.e. one that is fleshier than it is juicy. Otherwise the juice in the tomato will take forever to evaporate.

I’ve tried cherry tomatoes and they don’t work as well for me. Too much skin or something.

• I roast them cut side up.

Seems like if you roast them cut side down, some like to call this tomato confit. I didn’t bother trying this method because if you do it this way, you’re supposed to slip the roasted tomatoes out of their skin after you pull them out of the oven. That is too much work for me. Messy-sounding, too.

• I use whole peeled garlic cloves, fresh thyme, salt, and pepper. Then drizzle olive oil all over it — a few tablespoons worth. If you intend to store any of these tomatoes I would drizzle a little more, since you can use the oil to cover the tomatoes in the jar.

• I roast them in the oven at 225 degrees F until they look like the below picture. Usually about 7 hours or so. If I start to get impatient, I crank the oven up to 300 degrees F around the 6 hour mark. I would love to try the 175 degrees F for 12 hour thing, but I just don’t have the patience for that. Some folks put it in the oven at night before they go to sleep and deal with it that way, but I’m just a big wimp when it comes to fire safety and won’t leave the oven on like that overnight.

• Always use a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Do not use aluminum foil.

Rimmed baking sheet so that your olive oil doesn’t run all over the place, and

Do not use aluminum foil, as it will react unfavorably with the acid in the tomato. I’ve never tried this myself to test this theory; it’s one of those things that I’ll just trust. I would cry many, many tears if after 7 hours of roasting tomatoes they tasted bitter.

• To store, discard the thyme sprigs and put the roasted tomatoes and any garlic cloves in an airtight, glass container. Add enough olive oil to cover. Allegedly, it will keep in the refrigerator for about a week, but they’ve always found their way into someone’s belly before that. Keep in mind that in a day or two the oil will solidify. It’ll liquefy again if you put the container out at room temperature.

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A slice of peach kuchen.

I don’t know how the treat got this name since it is certainly not a cake. It could be that an Alsatian member of my family chose to use the German word for cake (kuchen) as a generic reference to dessert. Alternately the use of kuchen to mean tart may have come from the Pennsylvania Dutch community near my home town. Or maybe the name was simply made up by a distant relative talented in baking.

I have never seen another dessert quite like this so I’m going to keep calling it a kuchen. Maybe you can tell me your theory about what to call it after you eat it!

Peach Kuchen, A Fresh Peach Tart with Shortbread Crust

1 c flour
¼ tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking powder
7 T sugar
4 T butter, chilled
2 large ripe peaches
½ tsp cinnamon
1 egg
½ c milk
½ tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 400. Combine flour, salt, baking powder and 1 T sugar in medium bowl. (Set aside remaining 6 T of sugar.) Cut butter into small pieces and add to flour mixture. Using pastry blender, cut butter into flour until remaining lumps are smaller than a pea and the texture of the mixture is sandy. This can also be accomplished with a few quick pulses in a food processor.

Pour butter and flour mixture into a 9 inch glass pie plate. Use heel of hand to press mixture evenly into the bottom of the plate and 2/3 of the way up the side of the plate to form a crust.

Peel peaches and slice into very thin wedges – aim to get about 18-20 wedges from each peach. Arrange peach slices in crust so that they form concentric circles covering the entire bottom of the crust. Place the slices very close together so that they overlap each other.

Peaches arranged in crust with raspberry in center as an accent.

Combine remaining 6 T of sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Evenly pour cinnamon sugar over the peaches in the crust.  Bake the tart in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

While tart bakes, thoroughly beat an egg in a small bowl. Add milk and vanilla to egg and beat until combined.

Once tart has baked for 15 minutes, remove from oven and place on a level surface. Gently pour milk and egg mixture over top of tart so that it covers peaches.

Lower the oven temperature to 350 and bake tart for an additional 30 minutes. Remove tart from oven and allow to cool for at least an hour before serving.

Tart can be wrapped with plastic and held in the fridge for up to 2 days.  The tart is best enjoyed with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Also makes a delicious, if indulgent breakfast treat.

Don’t have peaches? This tart is also good with any ripe stone fruit or fresh blueberries.

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Lots to chop. Having a sous chef is very helpful.

This fruit salad, based on one I saw recently on the Cooking Channel’s Everyday Exotic, is far from flat. In addition to the ginger and cilantro, the original recipe has Thai basil which I replaced with fresh mint, and a red chile, which I replaced with a serrano chile because I had one on hand the first time I made this and really liked it. With its sweet, spicy dressing, this will make a beautiful, healthy side dish at your next BBQ.

Tropical Fruit Salad

You can eat this as soon as you make it, or keep it in the fridge for a few days. It will last a week, but the ginger and serrano will get more pungent over time, so if you’re making extra, consider reducing those ingredients a little bit so they don’t overpower the fruit.

Tropical Fruit Salad
adapted from Everyday Exotic

1 mango, peeled and diced
1/2 pineapple, peeled and diced
1/4 honeydew melon, peeled, seeded and diced
1 serrano chile, very finely diced
2 Tbsp. thinly sliced mint
1 Tbsp. thinly sliced cilantro
1 Tbsp. grated or finely minced ginger
2 Tbsp. honey
Juice of 1 lime
2 Tbsp. black sesame seeds

Mix everything but the sesame seeds in a large bowl. Garnish with sesame seeds.

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It’s hot in Sevilla in the summer. So hot that you’ll cross the street just to walk (slowly) on a sidewalk shaded by buildings and clench a water bottle in a sweaty fist at all times. Hot enough that the streets are watered to control the dust and tamp down the odors that exude from the pores of an old city clogged with layers of grime from ages of everyday human activity.  And summer is when the mid-afternoon siesta becomes essential for survival, rather than an irritating waste of time when the stores are shuttered and dark.

Imagine yourself inside a walled courtyard. Just behind the door is a narrow city street, but here you sit in the shade beside a gurgling fountain, amid flowers hanging from the walls in glazed pots. Relief. Perhaps your lunch includes a bowl of cold gazpacho.

Gazpacho is one of those dishes that gets a lot of playtime during this sweltering season. It uses ingredients at their prime this time of year – tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers – and requires absolutely no cooking, little prep, and lets a blender do all the work.

You can even pretend to hop on the raw food bandwagon with this recipe, should you wish. Super healthy, and it goes down easier than a salad.

Let’s talk tomatoes. The star of this dish, it’s important to use good ones. If you aren’t growing them in your backyard (I’m certainly not, I live in a fog bank June through August), head to the farmer’s market and pick up some of the heirloom variety. Meaty, flavorful and aromatic, they are what make this soup taste really good.

Tomatoes are the main ingredient of legendary dishes from countries like Spain and Italy. The ironic thing is that this flavorful fruit likely originated in prehistoric South America and didn’t arrive to Europe until the 1500s. And then it took another couple hundred years to convince Americans that tomatoes were ok to eat, despite their relation to the “deadly nightshade.”

Back then, those crazy, romantic French dubbed the ruby red sphere pomme d’amour or “love apple” – which is what it first was called in the U.S. and why it’s so easy to fall for this dish.

Gazpacho de Andalucia
Adapted from Cooking in Spain, Janet Mendel
- serves 6 -

2 slices bread (I use French or Italian bread – cut a chunk roughly the size of 2 slices of sandwich bread)
3-4 large, ripe tomatoes (heirloom, if you can get ‘em)
1 green bell pepper
½ cucumber, peeled if waxed
1 c roughly chopped white onion, rinsed
1 large clove garlic
1/8 c good extra-virgin olive oil
¾ t salt
2 t sherry vinegar

Suggested toppings:
Minced green pepper
Minced white onion
Chopped cucumber
Chopped tomato
Chopped hard-boiled egg
Bits of bacon or jamon serrano, cooked
Croutons

Put the bread in a bowl and add water to cover. Leave to soak. Roughly chop the tomatoes, bell pepper, cucumber, onion and mince the garlic. Rinse the chopped onion under cold water. Put tomatoes into the blender first, then follow with the rest (you may have to do in two batches). Give the blender a whir until all is pureed. Strain into a bowl, using a spoon to stir and press the liquid through the sieve. You should be left with just a few tablespoons of vegetable pulp.

Squeeze the water from the bread and add to the blender, along with the olive oil, salt, vinegar and a few tablespoons of the tomato puree (enough so that you can get the blender to engage). Blend until the bread mixture is smooth. Ladle in a bit more tomato puree and blend so that you get a “pourable” consistency. Add bread mixture to the bowl of tomato puree and stir. If it looks/tastes too thick for your preference, add a little water. Taste to correct seasoning.

Chill in the fridge at least 1 hour.

To serve: Pick a few (or all!) of the toppings listed above and either sprinkle on top of bowls of gazpacho before serving, or pass around the table with the soup for people to add themselves.

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