Coffee Cake

Sourcream Coffee Cake

I’ve never understood coffee cakes. They contain no coffee and seem no different from any other cake except that they aren’t frosted. But Shamiq found Smitten Kitchen’s Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Coffee Cake really interesting and asked me to make it. So I did. The result is amazing. The cake itself is moist and easy to eat (I usually find cakes too dry and crumbly). I’m excited to try the basic cake batter with different toppings. Perhaps candied orange peel or ginger. Or a hint of marmalade?

Coffee Cake Base (from Smitten Kitchen)

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick) at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (I used a little less)
3 large eggs, separated
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups (16 ounces) sour cream
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon table salt

I also added: 1/4 teaspoon of ginger powder, 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg and a pinch of allspice and black pepper

Coffee Cake Filling (also from the link above)

2 cups or 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

The recipe has you cream the butter, then add the eggs yolks, then the dry ingredients. Lastly, whip the egg whites to soft peaks and fold the yolks in. Pour half the batter into a buttered 9×13 pan, then spread half the topping/filling, then add the other half of the batter, then the remaining half of the filling/topping.

 

Maybe a candied bacon and chocolate coffee cake?

Pictures to come. They’re still on my camera.

Turducken!

Turducken!

 

My brother has nagged me to get a Turducken for Christmas dinner for a couple years… I think mostly because he thinks it would be funny, not so much because he wants to eat one. But, this year I ordered one from a meat shop in San Jose that has pretty good Yelp reviews for their turducken.

For $135, we got a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken. All deboned & full of stuffing. I baked it for about 17 hours (initially at 190F, then later at 350F) and fed eight people. We finished about a third of the bird. This turducken was far better than the one we had tried for Christmas dinner a few years ago — that one was a log of meat, supposedly a turkey on the outside, but it had been deboned/processed enough that it didn’t resemble much. Also, it cooked up into a dry log, unlike this one. I suspect leaving the skin on the duck and the chicken based the turducken from the inside.

I won’t get another one for a long time — but as far as novelty items and large protein sources go, this one was pretty awesome.

Gemenids

Last night was the peak of the Gemenids meteor shower. I took some pictures, mostly at 20 seconds and 2000 ISO.

Here is one, with the horizon.

Here’s one of the longest and brightest stars of the night. (I got lucky!)

Atelier Crenn

After reading about coworkers’ glowing recommendations of Atelier Crenn, Shamiq and I ate there this last Saturday. We opted for the shorter 5-course, $95 menu. Overall I found the food satisfying, inventive and well matched.

I did have a major case of menu-envy as I watched the tables around us enjoy the longer Chefs Grand Tasting Menu ($160). I’d like to go back and try the longer menu since the presentation seemed more whimsical and over-the-top. Four of our five dishes were from the longer tasting though, so I’ll wait till the menu changes, perhaps to spring or summer.

Amuse Bouche: White chocolate shell filled with apple cider.
I managed to explode the first one on myself, so they brought me a new one. Lesson learned, keep your mouth shut.

First course: Grains & Seeds, Dashi, Yuzu Kosho

I wish I could eat this for breakfast everyday. I found the broth very slightly too salty, but I tipped the bowl away and the mix of grains was both interesting and delicious.

A palate cleanser of hibiscus and some sort of sorbet. I don’t remember. :( But it was lightly flavored and I love the flavor of hibiscus.

Second Course: The Sea. Grilled shellfish, fish, uni & fennel.

The seafood was perfectly grilled, the uni was super fresh (none of that hint of sewer) and the fennel was a great pairing.

Brioche. I found it lacking. The crust was a bit… mealy, I’m not sure why. It was warm and soft, so not too many complaints, but I thought it was the weakest part of the meal.

Course Three: Walk in the forest

A mix of mushrooms, pine meringue & lots of other subtle but unique flavors. Most interesting was that it was a horizontal plate, and the flavoring of the mushrooms seemed to go from savory to sweet from one end to the other.

The other side of the walk in the forest. One mushroom tasted like steak.

Course Four: Ocean & Land

Quail, squid ink, black sesame and sea grapes. The quail was perfectly cooked, medium rare with crisp skin and appropriate garnishes. The sea grapes were a novel and interesting touch, textually… but they don’t seem to taste like much.

Our Cheese course, a $20 add-on. Three cheeses, walnut bread and wild flower honey.

Course Five: Betterave (Dessert)

I’m not sure why the course is called that on the menu… But, beet sorbet, grains (a nice book ending touch with the first course) and a chocolate beet root. I love beets. I want more beet sorbet. But less chocolate roots.

Mignardises: Strawberry gelee, some sort of citrus marshmallow and a salted caramel that didn’t fit my Santa-Gnome theme so I didn’t include it in the picture.

And an obligatory slightly creepy photo of Crenn from a distance. She did stop by our table twice, make small talk with us and was really nice (and told us all to eat more).

 

Banana Bread Science

(left to right, banana breads 1, 2& 3. recipes below)

Before the Thanksgiving break, I took home all the bananas the snack staff at work had on hand since they were going to throw them away in anticipation of the holiday. What better to do with over a dozen bananas than some banana bread science?

Recipe 1: Courtesy of my roommate, http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/banana_bread/ – 3 bananas

Recipe 2: Cook’s Illustrated’s “Ultimate Banana Bread” (membership required) – 6 bananas

Recipe 3: Cooks Illustrated’s “The Best Banana Bread” (membership also required) – 3 bananas and yogurt

I took half of each loaf to work and had people take small samples of each and cast anonymous votes. The results were overwhelmingly in favor of banana bread 1. Banana bread 1, however, also has the most sugar, so that very likely affects peoples preferences.

Other notes, banana bread 6 had more banana flavor than 3, but probably needed more sugar. 3 was the clear loser.

I’ll try this again with even amounts of sugar.

Science is a good reason to stuff yourself with banana bread.

New Camera!

Because I didn’t already have enough cameras hiding in my drawer. I decided I was buying myself a Hasselblad for Christmas. I know it’s a bit early, but I found a pretty good (I think?) deal on one.

I got a 501c body, waist level finder, two film backs (A12 & A24, though the 24 is pretty useless), C T* f2.8 80mm Planar & a couple accessories.

Now all I need me is some unexpired film… Somehow all the 120 film I’ve got is expired.

 

Attempting Rolls

Shamiq and I wanted to try to make our own rolls.

Turns out it’s pretty hard to make them look pretty. Instead they look more like modern art.

But it was a tasty endeavor.

Persimmon Starfish Pie

Last week, I made a persimmon pie for Kelly’s Friendsgiving dinner. I used a store bought crust because it was getting late, then adapted an apple pie recipe. I, belatedly, realized that using a 9inch store bought pie crust isn’t enough to make a lattice, so I cut some stars out and ended up with a pie that looks a little like starfish climbing over persimmon rocks.

Persimmon Pie
Adapted from this apple pie recipe

2 9in pie crusts, one for the top and one for the bottom
6-8 Fuyu persimmons, peeled and sliced (or however many you need to fill the shell)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tbsp flour
1/8 cup water
1/8 cup rum (or sub with water)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2tsp all spice
1/2 tsp ginger

1.  Preheat the oven to 425 F
2. Melt the butter in a pan, add flour to form a paste.
3. Add water, rum, sugar & spices, reduce temperature and simmer
4. Fill the bottom crust with persimmon slices, put on the top crust (lattice or what have you)
5. Slowly pour the butter-sugar mixture over it
6. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 F. Bake another 30-40 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. (I like my persimmons to not be blobs of mush. If you like them mushy, cook a little longer)

State Bird Provisions

State Bird Provisions serves most of it’s food dim sum style — on carts that are pushed around.

State Bird is super, incredibly popular right now. Shamiq and I were lucky to get a table in September and I’m going back tomorrow! It seemed like a good time to revisit what I ate last time and do something with the pictures…

Avocado something, tortilla chips, seafood salsa

Salmon & corn salad with heirloom tomatoes. I really liked the flavor combination in this dish.

Guinea hen dumplings in broth. Good, but very mild. Probably the dish that stood out to me the least.

Fried bread with burrata, one cannot go wrong with carbs and fat.

Short stack: corn pancakes, garlic chives, mt tam. I’m stealing this flavor combination.

Cocoa nib flatbread, chantrelle paste, cured yolks. This was magic. I’ve since tried to cure my own yolks, but I have no hope of recreating the flatbread or the chantrelle paste. Must go back.

State Bird with Provisions. I guess this is the dish they’re named for. It was good, but not as good as some of the other dishes. I propose they rename themselves to “Short Stack,” or “Magic Flatbread with Stuff.”

Steak tartar with shishitos.

Yeasted sesame pancake with bocalones.

Fried eggplant with avocado aioli. I love eggplants.

Japanese cheesecake with strawberries and tomatoes. Good, but paled in comparison to…

Fig ice cream sandwiches of amazingness. I think it’s both the flavor combination and being really, really well made.

Favorite dishes: Salmon + corn, Flatbread, Short stack & Ice cream sandwiches
Total cost for two, ~$110 (all of the above + a $6 pot of tea)