Orange Cake with Mascarpone Frosting, Pomegranate Seeds, and Candied Orange Peel

Last week I was blown away by the revelation that you can whip ganache. I don't know how I didn't know that but it changes everything. This week's revelation is mascarpone frosting.

I love baking under just about any circumstances, but I love being challenged with an ingredient. I visiting friend requested something with pomegranate and after some puzzling we decided on an orange-pomegranate combination. As an added bonus they're both winter fruits so I was able to get fresh, seasonal produce from my favorite local market.

I dream of one day having my own house built. the kitchen will take up a good chunk of the floor plan and will include double ovens built into the wall and simply acres and acres of counter space. In the meantime I made do here with a mini oven borrowed from my neighbor and only enough counter to put the cutting board. Baking usually requires a fair amount of shifting as everything that normally lives on top of the mini oven has to be taken off and put on the range or the small space between the sink and the counter. However for this recipe I needed not only the oven but also the range and the number of steps it involved outnumbered my mixing bowls requiring me to do a complicated dance of rearranging, mixing, washing, cooking, and baking.

A complicated dance that takes place in a space as small as my counter allowance and that usually also involves dodging Sherlock who, if not monitoring my actions from her perch atop the microwave is usually trying to climb up my legs.

Aside from the flavor, which was rather marvelous, one of the best things about this cake is the bright colors! Like many of my past cakes it wasn't the most well decorated creation ever but the intense colors of the pomegranate seeds and candied orange peels made up for it.

Recipe (adapted from BBC Food):

To decorate:

• 1 orange
• seeds from 1 pomegranate
• 50 g/1 3/4 oz sugar

For cake:

• 1 orange
• 275g/9 3/4oz self-rising flour*
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 275g/9 3/4oz sugar
• 275g/9 3/4oz butter, softened
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp cinnamon

For frosting:

• 50g/1 3/4oz butter, softened
• 175g/6oz powdered sugar
• 250g/9oz full-fat mascarpone cheese

Instructions:

1.  Zest the orange (I use a plain old vegetable peeler and chop the resulting strips small). Place in a small pan and pour boiling water over the zest. Add half the sugar and let boil for just a couple minutes. Strain out the zest, arrange in a single layer as much as possible on non-stick paper, sprinkle remaining sugar over it, and set aside. To seed the pomegranate, I prefer the water method but do whatever works best for you. Set aside the seeds.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
3. Zest the second orange. Using a food processor, combine zest and sugar to make orange sugar. This isn't necessary but I think it's a nice touch.
4. Separate the fruit from what remains of the orange peel and chop up the fruit in a food processor (or if you don't have one mash it up however you like). Set aside.
5. Blend the orange sugar and butter with food processor, stand mixer, or hand mixer until fluffy and add eggs one at a time. Blend in the dry ingredients. Finally fold in the mashed up orange.
6. Separate the mixture between 2 8in baking pans and bake at 180C/350F for about 30 minutes. After the cakes are done, turn off the oven and put in the orange peels that you candied earlier. With the oven off they won't cook but the heat will help dry them out a lot faster than just leaving them lying about.
7. While the cakes cool put together the frosting. Blend the butter and powdered sugar. BBC Food says until "smooth"...I got no smooth, just powdered sugar that resembled damp sand. If that's what you get don't worry about it, you're fine. At wet sand stage blend in the mascarpone cheese. 
8. To assemble the cake: if your cakes rose/you have mad slicing skills halve the cakes to make four layers. Divide the frosting between however many layers you have, stacking them with frosting and pomegranate seeds between each layer. Top the cake with frosting (and frost the sides as well if you have enough) and decorate with pomegranate seeds and the candied orange peels.

*I don't have self-rising flour so I substituted with regular flour and some additives. For every 8oz of regular flour add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt. It worked fine but my cakes didn't rise very much so I made a two, not four layer cake.

Turkish Wine of the Week - Diren 2009 Les Muses

As sometimes happens when I'm not sure which new wine to buy, I purchased the Diren Les Muses based on how pretty the label is. Sometimes that works out, sometimes it doesn't. I think this time it was a bit of a half win.

Diren's 2009 Les Muses is a Cabernet Sauvignon with a nice ruby red color. On the nose I got, of all things, chocolate covered cherries. While at first it seemed a little weird it really isn't when you think that Cabernet Sauvignon is known for its black cherry and dark berry aromas and that cocoa nib aromas can result from the oaking. It's the first time I've smelled chocolate that strong in a wine though.

On the palate I got a fair amount of oak, the black cherries again, maybe a little jam? I don't know what's triggering the sweet in my nose and mouth but there's something there. Maybe it's the tobacco? Good tannins just on this side of chewy, medium high acid, and a long finish round out this big wine. 

Goes well with the truffled almonds, natch. Does not pair well with Manchego. Beautiful with green apples, pork sausage, and truffle cheddar (as a combo but I'm sure individually as well-although perhaps not the apple)

I think I like it. But, as with a lot of reds I've had here, I like it with food but would not choose to drink it on its own.

Truffled Macaroni Cheese

I deeply and truly love cheese. I love it. A few years ago my doctor told me I should stop eating hard cheeses because of my cholesterol levels. I'd rather go happy than give up cheese. I've complained before about the lack of cheese variety (particularly the lack of not dyed or insanely expensive cheddar) so I won't do that again.

That's like 7 cups of cheese. It was beautiful.

I recently came back from the States and brought three suitcases full, largely, of groceries. There were about six pounds of pork products and probably eight or more of cheeses. I went to both Michigan and DC while I was in the US and on my DC leg Lauren took my to Trader Joe's.

Oh Trader Joe. I think I miss you the most.

I really only mean to buy the Italian truffle cheese. But then there was the raw milk cheddar, the port sault, the apricot Stilton, and something I've never seen there before...truffle cheddar. Those (some Manchego, roasted garlic cheddar, and several more pounds of extra sharp white cheddar) came home with me.

As much as I would love to savor them slowly over time, cheese doesn't really freeze well. Technically it freezes just fine, its the thawing when things go wrong. So when you have a surplus of cheeses that don't have a long shelf life and need to be consumed pretty quickly what do you do? Make macaroni cheese.

Adding the pasta to the bechamel.

But not just any macaroni cheese. When you have Italian truffle cheese that's going bad fast you really just need to fully commit to truffle macaroni cheese. It's worth the extra effort and expense. The night I made this I was a béchamel genius. I was a hero.

Recipe

Ingredients
For the topping:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons truffle oil
• 2 cups panko flakes
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 Cup grated Parmesan 

For macaroni:

• 1 pound noodles (shells, elbow, etc)
• 1/2 Cup butter
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 4 cups whole milk
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 6 cups grated cheddar*
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• Truffle salt
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in the middle of oven. Butter the baking dish**. Set a large, covered pot of salted water over high heat to boil.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat, heat butter and oil until butter foam subsides. Add panko and garlic; cook, stirring, until crumbs are golden brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer crumbs to a medium bowl, stir in 1/2 cup Parmesan and salt, and set aside.
3. Add macaroni to boiling salted water and cook until just al dente (avoid overcooking). Drain macaroni and set aside. 
4. In a large wide pot over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Sprinkle flour over butter, whisking to incorporate and make a roux. Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until roux is light golden, about 4 minutes. Gradually pour in milk and cream, whisking constantly to incorporate and make a béchamel sauce. Raise heat to medium-high and bring sauce to a low boil, whisking constantly. Reduce to a simmer, whisking occasionally, and cook until béchamel sauce is thick and coats the back of a spoon, about 3 minutes more. 
5. Add the salt, pepper, and truffle salt. Add the cheeses in three batches, whisking until each addition is completely melted before adding more. Remove from heat.
6. Add the drained macaroni to the pot with the cheese sauce and stir well to coat. Transfer macaroni mixture to the buttered baking dish and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle topping evenly over macaroni and bake until golden and bubbling, 18 to 23 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes before serving.

*I used a combination of Turkish gruyere, Italian truffle cheese, and raw milk cheddar.

** Or go the extra step and use truffle oil!

Truffled Macaroni Cheese

One of the things I miss the most while living in Turkey is cheddar cheese. It's not impossible to find here...but you'll end up spending about your entire paycheck for that really awful, dyed orange cheddar. That's just not worth it. Luckily I have friends who love me and the last time E was in the US she brought back a TWO pound brick of extra sharp white cheddar for me.

2 pounds!! There was happy dancing.

Kasar, cheddar, and Parmesan

What do you do to thank the friend who brings you two pounds of cheese? Make macaroni cheese of course! Macaroni cheese is the most amazing comfort food. It could only have been better if I'd had some friend chicken too. Preferably made by Lauren. Lauren makes amazing friend chicken. You will not be surprised to learn that I have a high cholesterol count. A few years ago my doctor told me to stay away from cheeses, cream, greasy and fatty foods etc. I was all: "No. No just give me some drugs please and I'll either eat a lot of oatmeal with the drugs or will die young but happy and full of cheese." Give up cheese. There's laughing in my head.

This turned out pretty well if I do say so. While I add nutmeg I'm not really sure why; just seems to work. Baking it at the end both keeps it warm for serving and has the added advantage of crisping up the top layer of pasta for texture. Even after all the cheddar I've eaten and making this batch of macaroni cheese...I just might have enough cheddar left to make it again!

*Nom nom* I really should have made more. The recipe made enough for four of us to each have a very generous bowl and with a side salad no one went hungry...but I totally would have eaten more after my gusts left had there been any more!

Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons truffle oil
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 3 Tablespoons flour
• 1 Teaspoon sea or table salt
• 2 Teaspoons truffle salt (optional)
• 1 Teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 Teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional)
• 1 Cup milk
• 1 Cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1 Cup grated mild cheese (I used kasar but Fontina would be great)
• 1/2 Cup grated Parmesan
• 1 Package pasta of your choice

Instructions: 

1. Cook pasta as per the package directions.
2. While pasta is cooking, heat a stock pot or deep sauce pan over medium heat. Combine oil, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and flour and whisk until a thick paste forms. 
3. Reduce the heat to low, whisk in half the milk until a paste forms; then whisk in remaining milk. 
4. Add the cheeses, reserving half the Parmesan, whisking thoroughly and add truffle salt (if using) to taste. I find that the flavor is usually more mild than I expect it to be.
5. Combine with drained pasta.
6. Optional last step: pour macaroni cheese into a baking dash, sprinkle the remaining Parmesan on top, and bake near the top of the oven (or broil) at about 250F for 10-15 minutes. Gives you time to prepare a salad if you're pretending to care about health.

Turkish Wine of the Week - Kutman Ipsala 2005

This week we're diverting from Suvla. Largely because I saw a bottle of wine at Carrefour last week that I don't recall having seen before. A Kutman Varietal Gamay - Cabernet from 2005.

Gamay is about the only wine for which I will forgive the French. In fact I was fairly well set on making France a parking lot for Europe or giving it to Germany after I take over the world; but my friend L pleaded for it. She gets France and Ireland and my interference in her rule will be minimal. Ish. But I digress.

At 38TL the Ipsala is right around the price point I have come to grudgingly accept as the minimal amount for quality wine here. *Sob* I miss Trader Joe's.

I think what caught my attention was the label which, I think, has a very European look to it. I decided that between that and the fact that I haven't seen a Gamay here before as a positive sign; which it really rather was. From the gorgeous purply red color to the smooth finish, this Gamay Cabernet blend is a winner.

The nose is what I would expect from a Cabernet; pepper/spice and red fruits. The spice is also the first thing you get on the palate; almost overwhelmingly so. Then, after you sit for a bit mulling through the tannins the fruit flavors make themselves known: raspberry, grape*, maybe a little plum. The label does not specify what the blend percentages are; but the very dry, acidic, and medium tannins make me want to say that, whatever the percentages, the Cabernet is the dominant grape.

This paired nicely with both Parmesan and cheddar. Despite the French origin of the grapes I feel tempted to treat this more like an Italian wine. It's got all the bigness I associate with a lot of Italian reds and I I don't think you'd go wrong pairing it with the same foods as you would an Italian.

I love cheese. Almost all of them really but cheddar remains my favorite. Specifically proper white, sharp cheddar. Which I could buy here if I wanted to sell my kidney or something to pay for it. So when L and I found a cheese booth at a Christmas craft fair in Inverness I was, needless to say, excited. Possibly a little too excited. L said you could see the vendor's demeanor change from 'friendly salesman' to 'oh dear this person could be dangerous; no sudden moves now'. I must admit my excitement over hand crafted cheddar likely seems disproportionate when you don't know that I live in a cheddarless desert. My Montgomery Burns plotting glee combined with my back injury and consequently odd posture and semi permanent grimace of pain did probably send the wrong message. After sampling several marvelous cheddars L and I both bought three (at 3 of 10 GBP). I got: sharp, caramelized onion, and garlic chive. I now regret not getting the chili as well.

I heartily recommend Damn Fine Cheese if you're in an area where it's sold or can be shipped to you.

*I know it seems odd to cite grape here. Wine is (usually) made out of grapes. But how often do you hear or read a wine description that actually mentions the flavor? Not often at all. Gamay is known to be a little grapey though.

Eggplant Magic

Happy Halloween! This post has nothing to do with Halloween what so ever but I figured I couldn't let it pass unmentioned.

One of my favorite restaurants in Istanbul is Faros (which is also a hotel). Like every other restaurant in Sultanahmet, Faros has a wide range of kebabs. However unlike all the other kabab houses, Faros has a few more interesting dishes. Like the Harem Special which is pan fried lamb and walnuts in pomegranate sauce and the Hurrem Special which is similar, but almonds instead of walnuts and dried apricots and prunes. Dude. I also recently discovered a to die for appetizer there involving eggplant and goat cheese.

One of my complaints about Istanbul is that, as an American who's lived in a fairly international city for 10 years, I'm spoiled by access to virtually any food product I could want. There are a great many things available here in Istanbul but I live in a small neighborhood and my small market carries basics. In my world, goat cheese is a basic. My market disagrees.

My previous access to goat cheese here has been when I have dinner at a friend's. She lives in a much classier neighborhood than I do and has easy access to a Carrefour. The first time I ordered this appetizer at Faros I thought I'd died and gone to Goat Cheese Nirvana. When I had it a second time I realized that the weeks between had been a sad limbo-like existence. It was while visiting a friend of mine, who works in one of the spice shops near Gulhane, that I thought to ask if I could buy goat cheese (keçi peynir) at the Spice Bazaar. Why I didn't think about this nine months ago when I moved here.

Not only did I find a dealer for my goat cheese need, I also found a dish that stands up against the mediocrity that is Turkish wine AND added a fourth dish to my collection of food I can make without an oven! Unfortunately I used all the tomatoes I bought and am too lazy to go back to the market today, otherwise I'd make it again. But I have to go out tomorrow anyway so I will definitely be stopping for some then!

What you need:

• 1 medium to large eggplant
• 3-4 tomatoes
• crap tons of garlic
• goat cheese, preferably a semi hard
• olive oil
• salt
• Italiany spices

1. Peel a few bulbs of garlic. If they're tiny put them in the pan whole, otherwise just slice them. Add about 1/3 of the garlic to the pan and put the rest aside. Add 1-2 Tbls olive oil to the pan and set aside.
2. Chop the ends of the eggplant then cut in half the short way. You don't have to completely peel the eggplant but I peeled two sides so it would lie flat in the pan and cook more quickly. Slice the two halves the long way into 4-5 sections.
3. Heat the oil then lay eggplant slices in the pan. I used an herb blend from my spice guy that basically smells like Italy (the herb blend, not my spice guy). So whatever you think smells like Italy (garlic, oregano, etc) is what you should sprinkle on the eggplant.
4. While the eggplant is cooking, dice in larger chunks, the tomatoes and slice the goat cheese.
5. Turn eggplant, herb the cooked side, and cook the other side.
6. I suffer from one pan syndrome so I took out the eggplant slices and set them aside. If you're fancy and you have two pans you can skip this step and cook the tomatoes while the eggplant is cooking. Add a little more olive oil, remaining garlic, diced tomatoes, and salt to the pans. 
7. When the tomatoes are about done, lay the eggplant slices on top and lay over those the goat cheese slices.
8. Cover pan until it looks like the goat cheese has softened.
9. Plate, pair with red wine, and enjoy eggplant magic!

As an appetizer this should make enough for like four people. As my entire dinner though I ate it all and then wanted more. Seriously, it's like Nirvana. Try is and dare to disagree!

Overcast but Lovely Batumi

KMac visited me in Istanbul. In fact she bought her ticket in like, April, and I've been looking forward to her visit ever since! While she was here, and since it's so close, we took the opportunity to visit nearby Georgia. I'd only been once before, to Tbilisi, and for three days in freezing, snowy winter, so I was very game.

Sadly it was quite overcast in Batumi and the weather took turns misting, sprinkling, and full on raining the entire day. Which means that the sky is basically white in all my pictures which is really quite annoying. Despite the dreary weather though, we were awed by how GREEN Batumi was. I don't just mean green, like the leaves hadn't started turning yet, but that everything was lushly, bright green. There's actually a word in Turkish for that, yemyeşil. Which I'm including here because I know everyone cares so very much.

My annoyance over the weather was momentarily overcome when I saw that very unassuming brick building hiding behind the yellow bus in the below picture. And my Russian Studies friends will understand why!

Because this plaque was on the wall!

I'm not a fan of Chekov, in fact I rather famously groaned through everything of his I had to read. Mostly I was just thrilled that I could read the plaque!

Since Batumi is a sea resort town, sitting on the Black Sea a stone's throw from Turkey, we decided to check out the beach. Being a Michigan girl I'm pretty spoiled. We have great beaches on Lake Michigan and I grew up on them. So the stony Batumi beach was less to my taste.

The surf was more than impressive though. And tricksey. The sound of the waves crashing ashore was amazingly loud. Given the overcastness of the day, once the sea was out of sight KMac and I forgot the booming noise was the surf and kept jumping thinking it was thunder. It rains a lot in Turkey but I'm having a hard time remembering thunder or lightening.

Before we left for Georgia my mom sent me a message to take pictures of more than just buildings. Why I don't know because buildings are awesome. But just for my mom:

BOOM! Dinosaurs are not buildings.

Let's take a moment to talk about Georgian food. Not only is it a pleasant change from a constant barrage of Turkish food...but Georgian food (aside from the overly liberal use of cilantro) is amazing. Eggplant with walnut sauce and pomegranate seeds? Yes. One of my top 10 favorite foods. And then there's Georgian obsession with khachapuri. Stripped down to its bare essence, khachapuri is basically bread, butter, and cheese. Lots and lots of cheese. There are several varieties of it but this is my favorite:

Khachapuri! Exclamation mark, happy face!!!

It's like a bread boat filled with one kind of cheese, then layered over the top with another, then topped with butter. Life doesn't really get any better. I think we ate at least one kind of khachapuri at least once a day every day we were there.

Then there are kinkhali. Kinkhali are like giant Chinese soup dumplings. In my humble opinion not quite as good because veal not pork and the overly liberal use of cilantro mentioned above, but these suckers are still good. There's an art to eating kinkhali. You hold the dumpling by the dough twist at the top, bite a side and suck out the juice, then devour everything else; everything except the twist actually. We had these in Batumi but later in our trip we at a monastery in Signagi and the nuns made them out of wild mushrooms instead of meat. Those were killer.

Kinkhali

After our fortifying lunch we walked around the city where I found more buildings to take pictures of. Take that, Mom. I won't post them all here, there are just too many pictures so please check out our Facebook page to see them all! Batumi was full of interesting buildings, fountains, and statues.

I'm assuming the gold guy here is Neptune given the trident he's carrying. The extremely saucy mermaids accompanying him were another good clue. I don't think I've ever seen such a saucy mermaid before.

See?

The below was apparently supposed to be used for a university but was eventually deemed impractical for such use. Cannot imagine why. I mean, if this were my university there's no way I wouldn't spend all my time in mini London Eye installed at the top. I would totally be studying.

Lie. I'd be riding that thing all day.

The Radisson in Batumi is an interesting building. I also rather love its modernness next to the classical style theatre.

We couldn't find a Catholic church here but did see a Franciscan wandering around so we figured there must be one somewhere. We did visit though a church that used to be Catholic and is now Georgian Orthodox.

Only one of many many on this trip

We were hosted on this trip by some rather illustrious acquaintances of KMac's. As part of that, we accompanied them on a tour of the Georgian Constitutional Court which is located in Batumi. It was amusing enough to get into the tinted-window, armored fortress of a car they have, but our greeting at the court by journalists and flash popping photographers was definitely a new experience for me. Also I've never been shadowed by a bodyguard before. KMac, whose boss being even more illustrious than our hosts, took it all in stride but I was had pressed to not giggle. Or, you know, fall down.

I'd like to see Batumi during season. I believe it's quite popular for resort seekers and I'm sure that stony beach is much busier in the summer. And if the city is this green at the end of September...I can't even imagine how beautiful it must be in the summer.