Unemployed: Hazelnut-Apple Cake

-A little note about this post: I wrote this shortly after I became unemployed and decided not to post it while I was job hunting because it was best that way for obvious reasons. As of today, the day this post is going up, I am starting a new job that I'm extremely excited about. So yayness.-

As of the day I'm writing this, January 3, it's been almost a week since I was rather unceremoniously let go from my job. It was with sincere regret on the part of my employer, bereavement on my own part, and just a general sense that, suddenly, the floor was collapsing beneath me and an unfathomable plummet was imminent.

It was. Is, I suppose.

I left my old job in adoption services and foster care at a lovely little nonprofit a little over three months ago. It was a rather difficult move as I loved the mission, my co-workers, and the people we worked with but in the end a massive reorganization and other upheavals had left me feeling somewhat panicked and rudderless like a dinghy plunging to the center of Charbydis. I felt the need to move onward and upward to a place where there was a bit more room to grow.

With the recommendations of some incredibly kind friends I landed an interview for a job at a local nonprofit of sorts. More like a nonprofit bank, really. It was with a well-respected changemaker in the region with the ability to influence the region and that had come across my radar numerous times.  I was thrilled at the opportunity and salivated at the prospect - the first and only one I had come across in my recent months of search. With little investigation or research I updated my resume and shot off an email to the executive director.

I was, according to the job description, more than overqualified for. They wanted two years experience (I have nine), a Associates Degree (I received my Masters), and the ability to stay organized (OCD, motherfuckers). I absolutely decimated the interviews to the point that I knew that I would be offered the job.

A few days later the call came in with an offer and a salary that was more than I had anticipated. I eagerly agreed.

La Tartine Gourmande Cookbook Review

-Pictured: Not macaroni and cheese.-

So this week has been kind of a string of failures in regards to The Cookbook. I feel like I’ve been falling down a flight of stairs, only they’re Escher’s stairs so I just keep tumbling down, up, and sideways and I’m not exactly sure when I’ll finally, bloodily land into a broken heap at the bottom. It’s just that every. Single. RECIPE has sort of collapsed in on itself or worse. No explosions as of yet (unless you count emotional ones), but I have no doubt that I and my 1973 gas range will sort that out before the month is out.

Allow me chronicle this with you.

Failure 1: Paneer Korma
Let me prep you first by saying this was part five (billion?) in a series of me trying to make an authentic Indian dish. I had been talking to friends Monica Bhide and Maneet, the woman who owns the Indian grocery store around the corner from my rental, and working through a number of dishes that could utilize homemade paneer into something with truly authentic Indian flavors.

Time after time the flavors seemed to be too weak or somewhat offputting. I would increase the amount of ginger, garlic, turmeric, everything. I would switch that out with this, then back again. After so many failures with vermicelli, curries, and stir-fries I moved on to kormas.

Of course, I have no experience cooking Indian food so all of this was very much off the hip. Yet, at the same time, I followed recipes to the T from people who knew what they were doing and everything kept going awry for me. I’m not sure what it was but the universe had decided that I was banned from cooking Indian-style cuisine.

The korma would be an exercise in simplicity. Tomatoes, a heavy hand of spices, and cream cooked down into a thick sauce before veggies and paneer were added. The whole of it then served over pasta. Now, when I say heavy hand of spice I mean three cloves of garlic, and knob of ginger the size of a witch’s knuckle, coriander, cayenne, cumin, garam masala, and enough turmeric to dye a quilt all went into this sauce. Still, there was barely any flavor. And what there was just didn’t have the richness and depth of the kormas you eat at a hole in the wall Indian restaurant.

Same old problem.

Paneer, of all cheeses, is truly kicking my ass. I’m thinking of simply sautéing it with some spinach, ginger, garlic, and chili flakes and tossing it over vermicelli. Essentially palak paneer with a little liquid added to make it saucier.

-Cause we always love things saucy.-

Failure 2: Cocoa Cardona with Chocolate Pasta, Strawberries, Balsamic Reduction, and Black Pepper
Once in a while you stumble into a Black Hole of Flavor. One of those dishes where a bunch of strong willed ingredients converge and completely cancel each other out somehow. It's much like when two opposing frequencies collide and thus cease to exist. Everything in a recipe gets sucked into some sort of negative zone where taste and flavor are null and void.

In this dish all the above went into it. Strawberries were sautéed and then sauced with a reduced balsamic. Tossed with chocolate pasta, cheese, and black pepper it should have been black and red fireworks bombarding the eater. Rather there was no spark, not even a fizzle. It tasted like cardboard and a disappointing sense of lack akin to expecting a letter to arrive in the post and finding the box empty.

We’ve tried it numerous times. I've come to the conclusion that this dish is simply a hollow vessel of the parts that made it. A puppet without strings to animate it.

Sad. So sad.

Apple Cardamom Cupcakes with Salted Caramel

From the Cupcake Archives...

This is a recipe I've long looked forward to doing once apples came into season. Fuji apples, cardamom, and caramel. A fantastic combination that just goes so well together. Plus, the apples the Elise gave me were just begging to be baked into a cupcake.

This was also a lesson for me as my friend Ann, one of the writers for Sacatomato, Edible Sacramento, and author of the cookbook Hands-Off Cooking taught me how to make caramel. The recipe was actually very easy and the use of a candy thermometer wasn't even necessary.

The cupcake is sweet & sticky, with the cardamom giving it just the right amount of spice. The cake itself is certainly toothsome, so the salted caramel really just acts as the perfect accoutrement to balance the whole thing out. We were both literally scraping (in my case using my finger and tongue) to get every little last bit of caramel off the plate. Using really fresh apples is key here, and the recipe is very forgiving, we over baked a few and they still came out fantastic. A perfect harvest treat now that September is here.
Apple Cardamom Cupcakes
Makes 22 cupcakes / 350F oven

What You'll Need...
4 cups chopped apples (varieties that are good for baking - i.e. granny smith, gravenstein, Fuji)
2/3 cups vegetable oil
2 cups of sugar
4 egg whites
3 cups of all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons of cardamom
1/2 teaspoon of ginger

What You'll Do...
1) Chop the apples and combine them with the sugar and let them macerate for one hour. Next add the oil and stir.

2) Preheat over to 350 degrees F (165 C).

3) Slightly beat egg whites just until a light foam appears. Combine them with the oil and apple mixture.

4) Sift the flour, salt, baking soda, and spices together. Stir into the apple mixture, and then place into cupcake papers about 3/4ths full.

5) Bake for 15 minutes undisturbed, then rotate the pan and cook for another 3-7 minutes, testing with a toothpick for doneness. Careful, as if the toothpick goes into an apple it will not come out clean, but cupcake may be done.

Salted Caramel
What You'll Need...
6 tablespoons of butter
3/4 cup of sugar or vanilla sugar
1 cup of heavy cream
1 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt

What You'll Do...
1) Melt the butter in a large, deep heavy-duty saucepan. Stir in the sugar and and stir until golden brown.

2) Take off the heat and pour in half the cream and whisk like a crazy person until the caramel is smooth. Whisk in the rest of the cream and the salt. Strain into a bowl and then spoon over cupcakes. (The caramel will thicken if you let it sit in the fridge, which is also yummy.)

Variations
Feel free to switch out the cardamom for cinnamon, or apples for pears. The recipe is flexible and forgiving. Freshly whipped cream is also an ideal pairing.

Similar Cupcakes
Pistachio Cardamom Cupcakes with Vanilla Rice Pudding Filling
Pear Cranberry Cupcakes with White Chocolate Ganache

Spiced Cranberry Applesauce

I'm starting to figure out what I want to do for my 3-Top Thanksgiving (my mom, Rob, and me). One of the things I decided to do was completely out of the blue; having just acquired some home grown apples from a friend and with a big bag of cranberries awaiting inspiration in the fridge I decided to throw together an applesauce. I had never made the stuff before but figured it couldn't be that hard, and in truth it was a snap. This recipe is a rough translation of what I did, but it's applesauce (i.e. boiled, mashed apples with water and sugar) so you can easily adjust it to your own liking.

It's sweet and deliciously tart. The cinnamon and ginger add a nice bit of spice in the background. I originally ate it warm, but it was a perfect little dish for a snack the next day out of the fridge. Plus the striking color just incites drama in the dish.

It's a perfect fall recipe, and I think would be great if you are planning to step outside the Thanksgiving staples and do a few different seasonal dishes.

Cranberry Applesauce
What You'll Need...
6 large apples (I used some monster sized Granny Smith)
1 12 oz bag of cranberries
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
1/2 cup of sugar

What You'll Do...
1) Bring 5 cups of water to a boil. Add the cranberries and let them cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring once or twice. I always giggle when the cranberries start to pop for some reason. I just always find it humorous and amusing as food often can be.

2) While they boil, peel and shop the apples into bite sized pieces. Add them to the boiling water and let cook for about 10 minutes until a fork can easily pierce them.

3) Add the sugar. Add the cinnamon and ginger. Stir together.

4) Puree with a stick blender, or process in batches in a standing blender. Let cool a bit and serve. Feel free to pop it in the fridge as it's great cold too.