TWD: Fresh Rhubarb Upside Down Cake

When I made Sunday dinner for Tom and his parents, I completely overlooked taking any photos of the meal. Beeping timers and a barking dog kind of got in the way, along with the last touches of the meal. Our dinner and dessert was beautiful, if I do say so myself, but you’ll have to

But here’s what we enjoyed:

-Savory brioche pockets – the next TWD recipe! Stay tuned!

-Green salad, with a springtime herb vinaigrette

-Fruit salad (no bananas–you’re welcome, Tom)

And finally, fresh rhubarb upside down cake, from Baking with Julia, with a small scoop of the vanilla ice cream I made last week specifically to accompany our fresh picked strawberries. 

Find the recipe here. 

Instead of purchasing four baby cake pans, I split the thick butter cake batter and the caramel-pecan-bourbon-rhubarb topping between two pans: a regular 8-inch pan, and a 7-inch (I think?) cast-iron skillet. Both cooked evenly and beautifully, but also took longer in the oven than what the recipe indicated for the little cakes. After turning them over onto two plates, I let the cakes cool slightly as we ate dinner.

Tom played fetch with the annoying pup (who has been eating EVERYTHING she can off the counters lately, more to come on that) as we cleaned up. Then time for slices of the cake — moist but dense, and not overwhelmingly sweet. I believe I’d make the recipe again, varying the topping seasonally.

A lovely Sunday meal, indeed. Even if there’s no photographic proof.

English muffins and strawberry-rhubarb jam

Rachel strikes again.

After this morning’s walk, I set out all the pieces for my breakfast on the counter: the first strawberries of the season, local butter, strawberry-rhubarb jam that I made yesterday on my day off, and a whole wheat English muffin.

Before toasting, buttering and jamming, I went into the bathroom for a second, and thought I heard some suspicious movements on the outside of the door.

Sure enough, the pup had a face that was both naughty and proud, and I couldn’t pry her mouth open to see what she had gotten. First, I thought she took a strawberry. Then, about to pop the English muffin into the toaster, I realized it was gone!

That darn dog stole my breakfast. I thought about withholding hers for awhile… but figured she’d soon enough just take my new English muffin if I turned around for even a half-second. But really, it was the buttery and sweet toppings that I didn’t want to share.

TWD: Madeleines

For such a small, delicate cookies, madeleines sure have a lot of controversy around them.

The question for many cooks is: what recipe were Proust’s madeleines from? I’d honestly never heard of the French author’s passage from In Search of Lost Time, which is apparently how the shell-shaped French cookies got their notoriety. But read anything about madeleines, and it’ll likely mention Marcel Proust and how the cookie’s crumbs in a cup of tea bring up involuntary memories.

At first, I didn’t think any of that related to why I was looking forward to making the French cookies with my mom for this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie project. No, madeleines were always one of the cookies that my grandfather made for our annual Christmas cookie exchange. Standing apart by their shell shape, the cookies were often half-dipped in a chocolate glaze. We’ve always wanted to get the special pan to make madeleines, but never had a real reason to, until it was time for this Baking with Julia recipe.

TWD: Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies

These were just OK. Nothing spectacular. I doubt I’d make this particular chocolate chip cookie recipe again, since both Rachel and I prefer the classic Nestle cookie recipe. Maybe add some apricots and espresso powder to those?

TWD: Croissants

Two exciting things to share: I finally made croissants, and I’m the new food blogger for my newspaper!

The flaky pastries took the entire weekend, but my relatives and my family devoured almost all of them. Let’s not think about the butter that was consumed. Despite my worries and the amount of time and work involved, the croissants turned out wonderfully.

You can find the whole story here on the Front Burner blog, but I wanted to share more photos here. Better late than never!

Brown Butter Gnocchi with Spinach & Pine Nuts

I’m sorry this isn’t the prettiest picture ever. It certainly doesn’t tell the whole story of this dish. Robyn will attest to this, but I quickly scrapped together the last of what was in the skillet to at least try to show you what I made as we were finishing our Oscar-night dinner. 

But this Brown Butter Gnocchi with Spinach and Pine Nuts is a dish you need to try. If you didn’t have to boil water, it’d take less than 10 minutes. And the short ingredient list doesn’t foretell the delightful blend of indulgence (butter) with healthy (spinach). Wilted greens combine with little potato dumplings and accented by the crunchiness of pine nuts and saltiness of cheese.

This Cooking Light recipe has been a family favorite for years. My mom tore the glossy page from a magazine early in 2009, and it’s been in the recipe binder ever since. If you were better at grocery shopping and planning ahead than I am — or had more than one mouth to feed — you could serve this with a simple green salad and maybe even some good bread, if you’re a carb lover. And definitely some wine.