Cat Food

There's A New Bakery In Town!

After spending the past 9 months searching for local space (and not being successful I'm sorry to say), former pastry chef and current local cooking instructor Cat Morris (yep - it's me!) is on the verge of opening her first "virtually" local bakery - Basic Kneads.

The bakery will focus on local ingredients baked up like gran'ma used to do it. Everything from low fat muffins like apricot ginger and cranberry orange to all sorts of cookies, double fudge chunk brownies, cakes, pies, tarts and much more. All using wholesome and locally available ingredients. There'll also be freshly baked crackers, breads and even granola packaged to go! And let's not forget about those birthday - wedding and any ole' custom cakes you can think of!

Check Basic Kneads over the next couple of weeks as we roll out our new menu and local delivery schedule.

Ahh the first warm Spring afternoon ...

Had a nice afternoon of baking for a change and finally perfected my basic biscotti recipe. I've used fresh lemon zest and rosemary here but feel free to experiment with any flavors you like. If you try the recipe shoot me a note and let me know what you came up with!
Here's the recipe as a PDF - Lemon Rosemary Biscotti

Lemon Rosemary Biscotti
Ingredients:

sugar 2/3 cup
eggs 2 large
vanilla 1 tsp.
baking powder ¾ tsp.
salt 1/8 tsp.
flour 2 cups
lemon zest 1 tsp.
rosemary (finely minced) 2 tsp.
almonds (whole, toasted) 1 cup

1 egg plus a little water mixed together for egg wash


Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. mix eggs & sugar together till thick and pale yellow
2. add vanilla, lemon zest & rosemary to eggs and sugar
3. sift dry ingredients together and add to the egg mixture
4. add the almonds & mix till just well combined
5. because dough will be sticky, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for about a half hour
6. roll dough into a 12 inch by 2 ½ inch log, brush with the egg wash and sprinkle with a little sugar and bake for approximately 25 to 30 minutes or until firm to the touch
7. remove from oven, cool slightly and then slice into ½ thick slices
8. return slices to the oven for 10 -15 minutes until light golden brown and dry

Chocolate Truffles 101

Thanks to all the great folks who came down to the Montclair Adult School the last two weeks for my Chocolate Truffle classes! I had a fantastic time teaching them and hope you all had fun getting messy!

I'll be posting all the info. from the classes over the next couple of days, including some additional recipes for the candied orange peel garnish and the candied ginger filling.

An Apple a Day ... at Least!

Apple season is upon us and there is every imaginable variety available at the farmer's market. I find that whenever I bake with apples its best to use a couple varieties mixed together. This gives you a depth of flavor and texture that you can't get by just using a single variety. I thought I'd share my most basic recipe to start - Apple Crisp.

Just about everyone has an apple crisp recipe that's been passed down in their family. It's the simplest and yet one of the most satisfying deserts to make. Keeping it simple really allows you to savor the intense apple flavor with just a hint of spice and crunch in the crust. It's a great desert to make with kids and boy does the house smell fantastic! Check out this great site for all your apple info- Apple Country

Be sure to check back over the next few weeks for more apple recipes!

Apple Crisp
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients
8 apples - mixed varieties, cored and peeled
2 cups flour or 1 cup flour & 1 cup rolled oats
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ cup butter
Pinch of salt

Method
1) Core, peel and dice apples. Place in a buttered 9 x13 inch baking dish
2) Toss flour, oats, sugars, salt & spices together in a large bowl. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles coarse crumbs.
3) Sprinkle the crumb topping all over the apples and pop into a preheated oven.
4) Bake until topping is golden and apples are bubbling - approximately 45 minutes.
Garnish with vanilla ice cream or a drizzle of cold heavy cream
Serves 6 - 8

Hint: Using a glass baking dish allows you to see when the apples are bubbly without having to poke around in the crisp to test for doneness.

Printer-friendly apple crisp recipe

The seckel pears are here! The seckel pears are here!

I picked up some seckel pears at the farmer's makret last Saturday and have made them two ways so far; roasted and poached. They're a nice alternative side dish to have with roast chicken or fish or as a dessert, warmed over vanilla ice cream with a little caramel sauce. Both recipes are incredibly easy to make and you can use any type of pear. I just think the little seckel pears are too darn cute.

Honey Roasted Pears
Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Ingredients
Enough pears to fill a medium sized baking pan
1/3 c. honey
1/2 c. maple syrup
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 Tbs. water
Pinch of powdered ginger
Pinch of cinnamon

Method
1) Rinse pears and slice a little bit off the bottom so they will stand up straight in the baking pan.
2) Put them into a baking pan or casserole dish so that they're packed tightly together.
3) Mix the remaining ingredients together and pour over pears.
4) Pop into the oven and roast, uncovered till they're tender when pierced with a fork, approximately an hour and change. It all depends on how ripe the pears are. Baste them about every 20 minutes while they're roasting to give them a nice golden hue.

Spiced Poached Pears

Ingredients
2 doz. Seckel pears
3 sticks of cinnamon
2 whole star anise
4 cloves
6 cups of water or to cover & half that amount of sugar

Method
1) Peel the pears leaving the stems intact
2) Place in a saucepan and cover with water. Make sure you measure the water so you know how much sugar to put in.
3) Add the spices, cover and bring to a boil.
4) Reduce the heat and simmer till they're tender when pierced with a fork.
5) Allow them to cool in the syrup and then place the pears and their syrup in an airtight container and refrigerate.

You could also place the pears and they're syrup in sterilized canning jars and process in boiling water so you'll have them later in the season.

Happy Autumn!

Yes I know ... I've been remiss and I haven't posted anything in a whole week! My deepest apologizes!

I've been overwhelmed with the one biggest purchase that a person can make in their lifetime. I'm buying a house! This was the week where the seller said, "yes I accept your offer" and this was the week when I had to get all my ducks in a row. Now with the initial panic and anxiety out of the way I can get back to my first love - Cooking!

The farmer's market was exploding with the early autumn harvest today. There were peaches and basil and tomatoes and pears and grapes and the first gorgeous squashes. Summer and Fall all mixed up together! Glorious! There was a beekeeper and honey maker from North Caldwell New Jersey with 17 thousand bees and a fantastic local caterer teaching folks how to make a healthy Waldorf salad. It was a party really not just the market.

Here - a few photos of today's haul and I promise there will be new recipes in the next few days. Our wandering Scotsman has sent us another fantastic very "trad" recipe for Kedgeree and one of our readers has sent a wonderful grilled steak salad recipe to share with everyone.

Enjoy the rest of the day and .............. Happy Fall!!!

Just Peachy!

I've been buying peaches every saturday at the farmer's market this summer. I've eaten them nearly every way I know how. I've made peach chutney, peach jam, simple grilled peaches that I had over a salad of baby field greens with blue cheese, peach cake ... I've eaten them sliced, chopped, minced and stewed. I thought I'd share one of my favorite peach recipes today. It's a Crostata, which is a type of home style Italian tart. Mostly I've seen these made with jam and a basic short bread style crust usually flavored with a bit of lemon zest. I'm using a cornmeal dough because it lends a nice, almost nutty crunch and a combination of home made jam and fresh fruit. I love the combination of peach and ginger and here I've upped the ginger by using fresh and crystalized ginger too!

Gingered Peach Crostata
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Peach Filing
8 - 10 peaches, pitted and chopped
¼ - ½ cup sugar - start with lower amount and adjust for sweetness
1 1” piece of fresh ginger, grated
2 Tbs. lemon juice
1 cup of water
A couple tablespoons of minced candied ginger*

Cornmeal Crust
2 cups all purpose flour
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup cornmeal
1 tsp. Baking powder
½ tsp. Salt
¾ cup butter
2 tsp. Grated lemon zest
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
ice water

1 egg mixed with a little water for egg wash

Method:

Filing
1.) Place all but four of the peaches, ginger, lemon juice, water & ¼ cup sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil, covered.
2.) Uncover, reduce the heat and let the mixture simmer till the fruit has broken down a bit and the liquid has evaporated. Taste for sweetness and add more sugar if needed. Filing can be made a head of time to this point and stored in the refrigerator till ready to use.

Crust
1.) Place the flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a couple of times to combine dry ingredients.
2.) Add lemon zest and butter in cubes and pulse till the mixture looks like course meal
3.) Add the egg and egg yolk and a couple drops of ice water and pulse just till the dough starts to come together.
4.) Dump it out onto some cling wrap, form into a disc and chill for at least a half hour.

Assemble
1.) Divide dough in half and roll out one round for the bottom crust and one for the top crust.
2.) Fit bottom crust into an 8 -10 inch tart pan and let it overhang the sides.
3.) Take remaining four peaches - roughly chop them and add to cooked peach mixture. Sprinkle the candied ginger on the bottom crust and then pour in the peach filing.
4.) Cut the top crust dough into strips and lay across top of tart in a lattice design.
5.) Cut off extra dough around the sides by pressing the dough into the pan rim with your fingers. This will remove the excess dough and seal the top & bottom crusts at the same time and give a nice clean edge.
6.) Brush top of tart with egg wash and sprinkle with a little sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees till crust is golden and filling is bubbly.

Remove from oven, allow to cool and slip tart pan off gently.**

* A note about candied ginger: Also called crystalized ginger it has an intense sweet/hot flavor. This can be omitted if you want a less gingery flavor. The ginger in the filing will be mellowed by the cooking and is a nice contrast to the peaches and shouldn’t be omitted.

**It’s best to use a tart pan with a removable bottom. Because of the amount of butter in the crust there is no need to pre-butter the pan.

Garnish with additional candied ginger and whipped cream if you’d like

Serves 6-8

Baker's Bounty - New at the Bloomfield Farmer's Market

Pssssstttt ..... I know a little secret - wanna hear?

Every Thursday there's a farmer's market open in Bloomfield center. It's smaller than Montclair's market but the produce from Valley View Farms is gorgeous and this week Baker's Bounty was there with the most fantastic artisan baked breads and pastries I've seen in these parts! It doesn't seem that many people know about the market because it was pretty quiet and they have everything you need to whip up a great seasonal dinner.

I found purple basil that I plonked into a vase in the kitchen because it's so beautiful and a semolina olive bread from Baker's Bounty that I can barely bring myself to eat it's so pretty.

Check back later today for some new recipes for bruschetta and then some ...

How 'bout some pie!

It's already the beginning of August and I can't believe I haven't touched on the ubiquitous american dessert ... PIE! When we were driving up the coast of California we kept seeing all these gorgeous fruit stands and all I could think about was turning the whole of them into pie.

Coming later today ... fruit pie recipes you can whip up from scratch in no time at all!

Apricots Abound

Last week’s find at the Montclair Farmer's Market - the first of the local apricots. Tree-Licious Farms was the first to have them but they're available from a number of farms this week. Apricots are difficult to grow in this part of the country so get them while you can!

Apricot Upside Down Cake
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Topping:
¼ cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. Finely diced candied ginger
2 ½ cups sliced apricots

Cake:
¾ cup flour
¼ cup cornstarch
1 tsp. Baking powder
Pinch of salt
4 eggs
¾ cup sugar
Zest of half a lemon
1 Tbs. Melted butter
½ tsp. vanilla

Topping:
Melt sugar with a tiny amount of water in a pan then add butter & ginger
Pour into a 9” round pan and top with sliced apricots
Set aside

Cake:

Sift first 4 ingredients together and set aside
Whip eggs with sugar & lemon zest till pale in color and thickened
Add dry ingredients to egg mixture and blend till incorporated
Add melted butter and vanilla and mix
Pour cake batter over apricots and give pan a gentle tap to release any air bubbles
Bake in center of oven for approximately 30 minutes or until skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean
Cool cake then run a knife around the side of the pan
Invert onto serving plate

Garnish with a dollop of whipped cream and slices of apricots if desired