Big news and a panna cotta!

FIRST SOME EXCITING NEWS!!!

Nolan and I are engaged! It took literally years and I have been waiting to share it with everyone, but I wanted some people in my personal life to know directly from the horse's* mouth (*I'm the horse). Yaaaaay!

And now the blog post....

Spring is finally here and so are new projects, plans, and vacations. This year, so far, we are going to Tennessee (Dollywood), Washington, D.C. (a Feist concert), Vermont (details to come), and Vegas/Seattle (work and vacation kinda thing). It will be fun.

One thing that I enjoy about being back home is the new custom of being surrounded by family and friends. I never had that in Pittsburgh when I was too stubborn to be around others. I never had that in California, when it was just us and work and the daunting reality of money running low. But it's different now and we go to baby showers and birthday parties on our Saturday afternoons.

Last week, we looked at wedding venues in my home town and had lunch with my sister and niece. So small and pink, so beautiful in her rabid curiosity. I fall in love each time I see her. That night, I went home and thought up this dish, so small and pink and fleshy. Delicate. Fun. Just for Lana, my little baby girl.

lood Orange and Coconut Panna Cotta

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, divided
• 1 1/2 teaspoon gelatin
• 1/4 cup blood orange juice (feel free to reserve a couple little dices of orange to include in dish)
• 1 can coconut cream
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon Grand Marnier
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions:

1. On a pan, place four 6 oz ramekins. Grease lightly with oil
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together 1 tablespoon of your heavy cream, gelatin, and blood orange juice. 
3. Allow gelatin to bloom for 10 minutes
4. While gelatin is blooming, in a medium saucepan, heat remaining cream, coconut cream, and sugar and stir continuously until all ingredients dissolve together
5. Continue to heat until nearly boiling, with bubbles around the edges
6. Take off heat, immediately add the gelatin mixture and whisk
7. Whisk in remaining ingredients
8. Return to stovetop and heat for a minute or so
9. Remove from heat, divide into your dishes and refrigerate for 4 hours or until set
10. When set, some of the fatty coconut cream will have risen to the top and solidified. When you turn it out you'll see the beautiful pink panna cottta underneath!

Blood Orange and Peach Fruit Roll-ups

I was a junk food prince as a kid, wrappers strewn across my room. I ate aimlessly and without purpose. I ate to make my teeth sore and to turn my tongue the unnatural shade of "blue raspberry". I ate because my father ate the same way. I ate because it was the only food in the house. 

My sister's birthday is the day after Halloween; we'd always go to the dollar store to buy the discounted candy on our way to her birthday party. For Christmas, I would remind my parents every year that I wasn't partial to chocolate, but loved fruit snacks and gummies. When Nolan and I lived in California, I would make a stop to the 7-Eleven for Mike and Ikes when I was stressed from school or work. And when I was in kindergarten, I got an ulcer from stress, too, and my father brought me a candy bar when I wouldn't stop crying because I wasn't a very good reader at the time.

I'm a snacker, a grazer. I munch absentmindedly to pass the time between loads of laundry and replies to my emails. But I'm 25 now and my metabolism is changing and I change with it. I was nervous to reinvent anything from my childhood, but I was excited to use these blood oranges I bought on a whim. And so I made fruit leather, but they'll always be fruit roll-ups to me.

Blood Orange and Peach Fruit Roll-ups

A true blast from the past, these are my favorite kind of recipes. I love sharing with you what it was like growing up in Kentucky and Pennsylvania and the kind of food I ate there. These are so easily adaptable to any fruit, just replace the whole fruit with another of your choice and adjust the liquids and sugars accordingly. Keep in mind that the oven temperature is long and broad and to check periodically, especially the edges, which may burn a bit.

Ingredients:

2.5 lb peaches, roughly chopped

Juice from 3 blood oranges, strained

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup water

1/4 teaspoon salt

Juice of 1 lemon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 200*F and prepare a half sheet with parchment paper

Combine peaches, orange juice, white sugar, water, and salt in a large pot and heat to boil

Reduce heat to a simmer and let simmer for 15 minutes or until peaches are tender

Puree in a blender or food processor until smooth

Strain into a large mixing bowl

Add lemon juice

Pour pureed mixture onto your parchment paper smooth out evenly with a rubber spatula

Bake for 4-6 hours or until it is not sticky to the touch

Peel and check the backs--if still sticky, flip over and bake an additional hour

Place on parchment paper, roll up, cut into segments and tie with string

Can be kept for up to a week in an airtight container, but may get a little stickier in high humidity

The Eleusinian Mysteries and Another Cake Recipe

Spring had no personality when I was younger.  It drew shallow breaths and sounded like a boot stuck in mud.  I didn't appreciate the beauty of the countryside, the grey light and sounds of trees waking up.  They stretched tired boughs and I just blinked and kept my head tilted to my feet.  Never looking up, self-conscious of my walk, my voice, my interests.

I grew up at the foot of a mountain, a dam broke once and 2,000 drowned.  There's a museum dedicated to it.  It happened in late Spring, when the water rushes fast and your heart can stop at any moment.  The rain leaked into my room, in a small, thin fracture where a bird cracked its skull on the glass.  Our basement floods every year, or so my dad tells the tax collector.  All this happened in the months that remind me of my mother.  

Now I live on fertile ground, staying at arm's length from rainfall and commitments.  It's officially Spring here, deep in the heart of Texas.  Thin crickets sing the temperature in vibrato, fat cats lounge in the morning light that dances from gossamer white to distortions of grey.   The dew on my car window is streaked from the wipers, and I don't need as much coffee or as many tender moments to survive the day.  

Spring holds no commitment, just promises cycles.  Of thaw and bloom and the shy forgetfulness of the harsh winters and the humid summers to come.  We are in the threshold of a blossom, Persephone has not looked back from the underworld.  And I am thrilled for the chance to see it all blossom around me.

A Floral, Herbal, and Citrus Cake

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This cake couldn't be described very easily.  My usual descriptions of saying what's in it and calling it a day couldn't suffice.  It's an olive oil and almond cake, with blood orange curd in the middle, iced in American buttercream, and topped with candied roses.  Whew!

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1. For the rose petals:

Ingredients:

• Petals from three roses, organic, rinsed, dried, and with white tip removed
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg white, mixed with one TB water

Directions:

1. Prepare roses as described above
2. On parchment paper, lay out petals so none are overlapping
3. Dip finger or watercolor brush into egg wash and lightly wet petals with mixture
4. Once all petals are wetted on either side, generously sprinkle with sugar.  Do not forget to do both sides of petals
5. Allow to dry overnight

2. For the blood orange curd (Adapted from The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Dessert Cookbook's Lemon Curd)

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 3 egg yolks (preferably large, farm ones)
• 1/2 cup fresh blood orange juice
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 stick unsalted butter

Directions:

1. Prepare a fine-mesh sieve over a bowl to strain curd mixture
2. In a double-boiler or a large bowl over simmering water, mix all ingredients over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring constantly
3. When mixture is the consistency of honey, remove from heat and strain into bowl
4. Place plastic wrap on curd and allow to cool to room temperature

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3. For the cake (Adapted from Giada de Laurentiis' Almond Citrus Oil Cake): Makes 2 8-inch cakes

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour
• 4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cup sugar
• 6 eggs
• 3 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 heaping tablespoon blood orange zest
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (or whole milk, if you prefer)
• 1 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare two 8-inch cake pans with butter and parchment paper

2. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl
3. In a stand mixer (or with a hand mixer in a large bowl), beat eggs, sugar, extracts, and zest until light, pale, and fluffy.
4. Add mix and beat until combined
5. With mixer on, gradually add oil until well combined
6. In sixths, add dry ingredients to mixer.  Mix each batch well before adding the next until all is incorporated
7. Evenly distribute  between two cake pans
8. Bake for 35 minutes and allow to cool completely before assemblage. 

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4. For the American Buttercream icing (This is the recipe my mother used for my brother's wedding cake)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 stick butter, softened to room temperature
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 4 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
• 2 tablespoons milk

Directions:

1. In an the bowl of an electric mixer, beat shortening and butter until light and fluffy
2. Add extracts and beat until incorporated
3. With mixer running, gradually add confectioner's sugar in batches until incorporated.  The consistency will appear dry
4. Add milk and continue to beat for another 15 seconds until icing has come together

Assembly:

Once all ingredients have been prepared, place one cake on a plate.  Spoon and spread curd onto top of cake layer (don't be shy with it!).  Place next cake layer on top and make sure it is firmly in place.  With a rubber spatula, ice cake in spoonfuls of buttercream, making sure to get tops and all sides.  Run a wet butterknife along sides and top to smooth out irregularities and to avoid clumping on spatula.  When finished with icing, top with preserved rose petals.  

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