Handmade cavatelli in fresh pesto

This is a fun weekend project that you can recruit friends or family members for some of the work, because it can be time consuming, but it yields a delicious result. There’s something about the chewy texture of this particular pasta recipe that I love. When I worked at A16, cavatelli, meaning “little caves” was a popular dish and one of my favorites. The dough has no egg and is made with regular flour, so you can pretty much make it at any time. The original recipe calls for OO flour, which can be found in specialty markets. It is very finely ground, and contains less gluten than regular flour, so it makes for a softer pasta that can be somewhat easier to work with. As this OO flour can sometimes be hard to find, I used regular all-purpose flour with a still satisfying result. Since I don’t have a pasta machine at home, this is also an ideal recipe. The original recipe was double in size, which could be good for making a lot at one time, and freezing half for up to a month. Freeze the pasta in a single layer on a baking sheet, then transfer it to an airtight plastic baggie for later use. Since I’m pressed on freezer space, I froze the pasta in a medium-sized plastic container, with a layer of wax paper in between each layer of pasta. You can also use a good-quality dry pasta, like Di Cecco. I also like the organic store brands from Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, or Sprouts grocery stores.

Alternatively, if you spent a lot of time on the pasta and want to opt for a good quality store-bought pesto, be my guest. This is probably one of the few times I made pesto at home, but something about making both of these things entirely from scratch made them that much more delicious, fresh and creamy. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you could probably also knead the pasta dough by hand for 5 minutes. And if you don’t have a food processor for the pesto, you can also try a blender, or even a mortar and pestle and some patience to grind it up by hand. I think I heard somewhere that you should never heat pesto, and I agree. Just toss the warm, just cooked pasta in the sauce and stir, stir, stir to create a nice emulsion with a little pasta water and the cavatelli, and you’ll get a lovely creamy consistency--all off the stove. If you were to heat it any more, the emulsion would break, the pasta wouldn’t be as creamy but come out oily, and the fresh basil and garlic in the pesto would taste bitter.  

If you have any remaining pesto, use it within a day or two, before it oxidizes and turns brown. A spoonful can be stirred into soup, used to top a piece of baked or grilled fish or meat, spread on bread for your lunch sandwich instead of mayo, tossed into a salad with some lemon juice; the possibilities are endless. I’ve also heard you can freeze any remaining pesto for later use, but I think its best used fresh.

Cavatelli
yields 4  first course servings or 2 large entree sized servings
prep time: about 1 hour
inactive prep time: 30 minutes

3 cups OO or all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
¾-1 cup water

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, place the flour and the salt. Mix for a few seconds until combined, then drizzle in the water on low speed. Start with ¾ c, and if the dough looks too dry add the rest, a tablespoon at a time, until it comes together and cleans the sides of the bowl after about 1-2 minutes. Mix on medium speed for about 3 minutes. The dough should be a firm ball, a little tacky but not sticky. Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes, to allow the gluten to relax.

When ready to shape the pasta, unwrap the dough from the plastic wrap. Cut off an edge with a pizza wheel or bench cutter (or knife). Roll the cut dough piece into a long snake, about ¼ inch in diameter. Cut the snake into ½ inch to 1 inch pieces. Using your index and middle finger, or index, middle, and ring finger, press down firmly in the middle of the cut dough to create an indentation or small hollow in the dough, and release. When several pieces are shaped, use a sparing amount of flour to keep the shaped pieces from sticking to each other. Place the dough in a single layer on a sheet pan dusted with flur until ready to cook, with a towel on top. Alternatively, layer a single sheet of pasta on top of a piece of parchment in the freezer, and freeze for up to a month until ready to use. 

Cavatelli from the freezer, ready to be boiled.

To cook the pasta, bring a gallon of water to the boil with a teaspoon of salt. Toss the pasta into the boiling water and stir. The pasta should take about 2-3 minutes to come to al dente, about when the pasta floats to the top. Drain the pasta, and reserve about ½ cup of pasta water to toss with the pesto. Put the pasta with the pasta water back into the pot, add in the pesto, and continue stirring constantly off the stove until creamy. Top with shaved parmesan, enjoy immediately.

Parmesan is easily shaved with a vegetable peeler

Fresh basil pesto
prep time: about 15 minutes
yields: 1 1/4 cup, for about 1 pound of pasta, serving 4-6 people

2-4 cups clean basil leaves (more basil for greener flavor, less basil for nuttier flavor)

1/4 cup parsley leaves
¾-1 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup lightly toasted pine nuts*
2-3 whole garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp lemon zest
¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

In the bowl of a food processor, place the basil, parsley leaves, toasted pine nuts, crushed garlic cloves, lemon zest and cheese. Turn on the food processor and slowly drizzle in the olive oil to form a smooth paste, adding more olive oil to achieve the consistency you are looking for, about ¾ to one cup of oil total. Add salt and pepper to taste after adding the oil, since the cheese can be salty.  

*To toast pine nuts, or any other nuts for that matter, place on a baking sheet in a single layer. Toast slowly, for about 5-8 minutes in a 350 degree oven. stirring once or twice with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula. I do not recommend toasting nuts in a frying pan on the stove, because the heat distribution is not as even, and the nuts can burn easily.

Wedding Cake Extravaganza—Vanilla buttercream cake with Fresh Strawberry filling

Since leaving the pastry world as a full-time cook and entering the daily grind of a regular job, I’ve found I still miss the challenges of baking and honing my craft. I love watching the cake decorating shows on TV, and I can’t help but be fascinated by the artists creating elaborate cakes on a daily basis. For as long as I could remember, I’ve always had challenges and Julia Child-esque disasters in the baking kitchen. In September I made my first attempt at a 3-tier wedding cake, a mammoth of a beast for my parents’ 40th wedding anniversary. After a near-fall on the floor and a bump into the refrigerator, I swore myself off of making wedding cakes.

Yet here I am again, talking with one of my co-workers about how her sister was getting married at home and did not have a cake. She wanted to gift a wedding cake to her sister. I decided to bite the bullet again and attempt another 3-tier cake, this time to actually be transported from my house to another home in Orange. I thought of the many things that could go wrong, and then I thought of the many lessons I learned since making the first. And I also thought of the glorious feeling of redemption and pride when I would produce another cake, more beautiful than the first. We decided on a simple design, with a vanilla buttercream frosting and strawberry filling. In preparation I watched countless youtube videos on assembling a tiered cake, and purchased a few tools to help me accomplish the job more professionally than before.

You can try out these recipes for a one-tier birthday cake. If you are ambitious enough to also attempt a 3-tier cake, give yourself ample time, 5-8 hours depending on your skill level and the detail you want to attempt on the cake. I stuck with a simple design, some ribbon to hide the seams, and a few buttercream roses on top. The brides’ dress had rhinestones on it, so we carried that into the theme. In this case, the rhinestones aren’t edible, but you can use edible silver or gold dragees that can be purchased at a cake supply store or your local craft store. The Michael’s by my house has an extensive selection of Wilton cake products, which are widely available in many craft stores, or you can do some online research and order things over the internet.

For assembly and simple decorating techniques, I recommend the epicurious videos. Yes, you DO need to put supports in your cake, in the form of a dowel or straws for each tier. If you did not, the cake would slowly collapse upon itself. There are a lot of other youtube videos and shows that show a basic technique for using fondant if you want to use that for a cake, but I think learning to frost a basic cake evenly is a good first step when decorating cakes. I’ll post up some more pictures up once I find my usb cord for my camera.

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/holidays/weddings/cake_video

A lot of this equipment can be an investment, but after working on this cake I think that a few of these things are essential to making a really beautiful cake. You can make do with a few other things, but at least for someone of my skill level, I don’t think I would have accomplished this without, at the very least, a professional cake turntable, offset spatulas, piping bags, and cake boards. I’ll list the equipment I purchased and the timeline I used to produce the cake. Overall, the equipment and ingredients are an investment of about $175-200, depending on what quality ingredients you buy, organic costing more, of course. A little expensive for a side project, but if decorating cakes at home is going to be one of your fun hobbies, it’s a worthy investment, and next time you’ll just have to purchase ingredients. I’ll begin with the equipment, then go over the timeline breakdown, which helped me make the cake during a busy work week. I also would clear out ample space in your refrigerator, and remove any potentially smelly foods—the buttercream will pick up any refrigerator odors and make the cake taste off. Also, make sure the cake base will fit on your refrigerator shelf—I found that out the hard way! The base I bought fits only in our extra refrigerator and not the one we usually use at home.

Equipment:
1 heavy-duty, professional cake turntable (I used an inexpensive one before, but it cannot hold the weight of a 3-tier cake, so I definitely DO NOT recommend skimping on this item.)
1 large offset metal spatula
1 small offset metal spatula
2 piping bags
1 leaf tip
1 large petal (rose) tip
1 small round tip #4
1 coupler (optional)
Tweezers (optional)
1 stand mixer with whisk attachment or hand mixer
1 rubber spatula
Candy thermometer
Parchment paper
Aluminum foil
Wooden dowels
Garden shears or wire cutter
Cake base--either a thick plywood cut to 4 inches larger than your largest cake pan, or several pieces of cardboard glued together. This needs to be sturdy enough to handle 3 tiers plus frosting, weighing about 10-20 pounds depending on your recipe. You can also buy a cake base from a cake supply store. I covered mine with foil and royal icing, but you can also cover it with decorative foil or fondant. The one in my picture is quite a few inches larger than the cake, but for me that piece of plywood was cheaper precut than getting a different size, so it’s up to your preference.
Satin ribbon, about 3 yards (enough to cover the seam of each tier and the cake base)

Timeline:
Up to 1 month ahead-bake and freeze your cakes. Wrap the cakes tightly in a double layer of plastic wrap in the cake pans or on cake boards and place in the freezer.
Two days ahead--make the buttercream. Leave the buttercream at room temperature, or refrigerate and let come to room temperature before frosting the cakes. It takes about 8 hours for buttercream to come to room temperature from the refrigerator. Defrost the cakes at room temperature about 2 hours before frosting.
One day ahead (at least 8 hours before finishing)-fill the cakes, frost and refrigerate.
The day of the party or one day ahead-stack the cakes together, finish decorating.

To transport the cakes, place the cake board on a flat, wet towel in your car. You can also have someone very carefully hold the cake on their lap, or put the cake in a box. Try not to travel in a very hot car, as the buttercream will want to melt. Also, if you refrigerate the cake before transport, you can help minimize any melting fears. By the time the wedding occurs, it will be at a nice room temperature for eating.

Recipes: For all cakes, always keep the ingredients at room temperature!

Vanilla Chiffon Cake (adapted from the Tartine cookbook)—do this recipe twice, one time for a 10 inch springform pan, and the second time for a 8 inch pan and a 6 inch pan. A tip to bring eggs to room temperature from the fridge--place the raw eggs, shell and all, into a bowl of hot water for about 5 minutes. When the water cools, the eggs will be at room temperature or warm, which will give you the fluffiest and most consistent peaks. If you are using organic, free range eggs, I recommend measuring the egg yolks and whites according to the ounce measurements, as sometimes they can be different sizes than large eggs. You can also substitute some of the water with lemon juice or orange juice to flavor the cake lemon or orange.

2 ¼ cups all-purpose or cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 ½ cups sugar
¾ tsp salt
½ cup vegetable oil (canola, safflower, or sunflower)
6 large egg yolks (about 4 oz) at room temperature
¾ cup water (6 oz)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ tsp grated lemon zest
10 large egg whites (about 11 oz) at room temperature
¼ tsp cream of tartar or lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the bottom of a 10 inch springform pan with a piece of parchment, cut exactly to the size of the pan (use the pan bottom as a stencil, trace it over the parchment with a pen, and cut out with scissors.) Do not grease the pan.

Sift together the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Add 1 1/4 cups of the sugar and the salt and whisk to combine.  In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, egg yolks, water, vanilla, and lemon zest. Make a well in the flour, add the yolk mixture, and then whisk thoroughly and quickly for about one minute until there are no lumps.

Place the egg whites in a very clean large mixing bowl. Using a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat on medium speed until frothy. Add the cream of tartar or lemon juice and beat until the whites hold soft peaks. Slowly add the remaining ¼ cup off sugar and beat until the whites hold firm, shiny peaks. With a rubber spatula, scoop about ⅓ of the whites into the yolks mixture and gently fold in. Fold in the remaining whites just until combined.

Pour the batter into the pan, wiggle the pan to smooth out the batter. Bake 45-50 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool in the pan, as the sides will help hold its structure in place. When ready to unmold, run a small, thin paring knife around the sides of the pan to loosen the cake, and undo the latch on the side of the pan to release. Invert the cake, remove the parchment, and split in half for the cake tiers.

You can also refrigerate the cake, double-wrapped in plastic wrap, for 4 days, or freeze it double-wrapped in plastic wrap for up to a month. I recommend wrapping the cake on top of a cardboard cake circle or still attached to the cake bottom to keep it from getting dented in the freezer.

Vanilla Buttercream—do this recipe 4 times
*For a very delicious buttercream flavor, substitute half a vanilla bean for the vanilla extract. Add the split vanilla bean to your sugar when you cook it, and remove before adding the syrup to the egg whites. This gives a lovely flavor, but can give small black vanilla bean specks to your buttercream, which may not be what you are looking for if you want a very white looking cake.

4 egg whites, at room temperature
¼ tsp cream of tartar
1 pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract (clear, can be purchased at cake supply stores)
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup water
1 pound butter, cut into cubes and at room temperature

Make sure all of your utensils are very, very clean, with no speck of oil on the bowl or pot. Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. In a small saucepan, place the cup of sugar in the bottom. Carefully pour over the water, so that no granules of sugar line the sides of the pan. Make an X in the sugar water with your finger, so that the sugar is totally submerged in water. Place the pan on the stove on medium heat, with the candy thermometer in the sugar but not touching the bottom of the pan. Start whipping the egg whites on medium speed at the same time you turn on the heat under the pan of sugar water.

When the egg whites get evenly foamy, add the cream of tartar and continue whipping. When the sugar cooks to 235-240 degrees Fahrenheit (soft ball stage), very carefully pour the hot sugar syrup into the whipping egg whites, aiming the syrup in between the bowl and the moving whisk. Slowly drizzle in the syrup until totally incorporated, and increase speed to medium-high. The heat from the syrup will cook the eggs and make it fluffy and white. Continue whipping until the bowl is cool to the touch, about 7 minutes. Add the vanilla and salt. Slowly add in the butter, one cube at a time to the whipped meringue.  Check the buttercream for flavor and consistency when you have a little butter left; you may not need to add all of the butter. Whip until it looks like a thick, smooth frosting.

Note: if the buttercream looks broken while adding the butter, fear not! Just keep whipping and adding the rest of the butter until fully emulsified. Its hard to screw up this recipe. If at any time it begins to look broken, just whip it some more, on a higher speed for a minute or two until it comes together.

For the filling:
Vanilla buttercream, about 1 batch per tier
1 ½ cups Good-quality strawberry jam, warmed slightly in the microwave until liquidy (or homemade if you have some is even better)
1 pound strawberries, thinly sliced

Assembly: I like this video for filling and frosting cakes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8axeIDXUtLA

To assemble the cakes, place the cake on a cardboard round cut to the size of the cake. Place the round on the turntable. Split the cake carefully in half, holding one hand on top of the cake, and your other hand maneuvering the knife. The video recommends working with frozen or cold cake, but I like room temperature cake. Either method works. Move the top layer to a cake board while you fill the middle with frosting. Next I put on a thin layer of the warmed jam onto the cake to help keep it moist. Then I put on a layer of frosting. I like using a piping bag to fill the middle, but you can also put on a big dollop on top and smooth it out. Place some sliced strawberries in one layer evenly on top of the frosting, and push lightly into the buttercream. I also like to lightly coat the strawberries with some more of the jam. Place the top layer of cake on top. I do like to use a crumb coat on this layer to trap in any crumbs. To do this, thinly coat all sides of the cake with frosting, and let chill in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes so the crumb coat hardens. Then finish coating the sides by adding about a cup to a cup and a half of buttercream to the top and sides of the cake, using your offset spatula and turntable to smooth out the sides. 

Chill the tier for at least 8 hours before assembling the tiers together. The buttercream will naturally dry a bit, making it easier to work with. To make the sides smooth, some people use a soft paper towel once the cake is cold to smooth out the buttercream. Alternatively, I like to heat my spatula with a blowtorch, or place the spatula in a pitcher of very hot tap water. Clean off the spatula so it is dry, and use the hot spatula to smooth out the top and sides of the cake. After doing a couple cakes at home you’ll eventually find a method that works best for you.

For stacking the tiers, I recommend this epicurious video:

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/holidays/weddings/cake_video

You can test out lots of flower tips for decorating the cake, but to simply decorate it for a clean look, I covered the seams with satin ribbon. I piped the top with buttercream roses, but there are many other options. Using organically grown flowers that are trimmed to just an inch or two of the stem are also very nice decorations for the sides. You can insert toothpicks into the ends of the flower stems before inserting them into the cake. Some cake decorating stores also have pre-made gum paste flowers that you can use. For placing dragees on the cake, which are little edible shiny pearl-like balls, I like to use tweezers. Making simple dots or flowers on the sides is also an elegant design. This is the time when you can have the most fun, and get the most creative with your own design.

Above all, have fun with the decorating! That’s the most important part. Let me know if you have any questions too, I’ll try and answer them.

A recommended video for buttercream roses: (yes, you need a rose nail and scissors)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5SDR2EpmRw

Appendix: Royal Icing for the cake board
*You can also cover your cake board with foil or fondant.

Royal Icing by Alton Brown
Yield: 3 ½ cups, 7 minutes of prep
                
3 ounces pasteurized egg whites (purchase in powder form, at cake supply stores)
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

In large bowl of stand mixer, combine the egg whites and vanilla and beat until frothy. Add confectioners' sugar gradually and mix on low speed until sugar is incorporated and mixture is shiny. Turn speed up to high and beat until mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks. This should take approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Add food coloring, if desired. For immediate use, transfer icing to pastry bag or heavy duty storage bag and pipe as desired. If using storage bag, clip corner. Store in airtight container in refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Note: I used this icing to cover the cake board, but you can also use it to pipe flowers or decorations. You can pipe the decorations onto a piece of parchment, let them dry for a day, and then remove from the parchment to place on the cake.

Blonde Brownies

I can’t believe its been so long since a blog posting! I suppose starting a new job and the craziness of the holidays has kept me away. Nevertheless, I’m coming back to postings and trying to find more quick, delicious meals that are easy for anyone to make. I’m planning on listing the recent “fancy” Valentine’s dinner for two that I made last week, so stay tuned. (It sounds fancy, but was pretty quick and easy, and perfect for any special dinner.) I’ll also be looking into posting healthy weeknight stuff that will help trim that post-holiday bulge. Until then, a dessert that you can prep in 10 minutes. (Pictures to come soon.)

My hankerings for a quick sweet fix often involve chocolate and/or brownies. When I worked at Clementine, we used to have these thick, buttery blonde brownies that I loved. This is a similar recipe, but with pecans and some dark chocolate chunks, making for a cross between a chewy chocolate chip cookie and a blonde brownie. You can go without the chocolate and up the chopped nuts, or double the recipe in the same size cooking pan for an extra thick brown sugar bar.  Either way, you’re only about half an hour, start to finish, from a yummy homemade dessert. Top the warm brownies off with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge, and you’re in a little bit of heaven.

Blonde Brownies
serves 8
prep time: 10 minutes
cook time: 20-25 minutes

1 cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder
⅛ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ cup chopped pecans
½ cup melted butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ cup chocolate chunks (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together the melted butter and the brown sugar. Add the egg and vanilla extract to the butter and sugar. Stir in the flour mixture, just until combined. Add the pecans and chocolate. Spread evenly into a 9x9x2 inch baking pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Cut with a plastic knife or spatula when cool.