Lots to Taste with Stanley Tucci

Our Cook the Books Club current selection, Stanley Tucci - Taste My Life Through Food, presents us with a memoir full of opinion, memories, travel and the connections between his growing up in a close knit Italian American family, in film, writing, travel, and through it all the backdrop and importance of food in his life.  This round is hosted by fellow Hawaiian blogger, Deb of Kahakai Kitchen.

Tucci's mother was a wonderful cook, and he writes: "It should be obvious by now that when I was young my mother spent most of her waking time in the kitchen, and she still does to this day.  Cooking for her is at once a creative outlet and a way of feeding her family well.  Her cooking, like that of any great cook or chef, is proof that culinary creativity may be the most perfect art form."

What an enjoyable read!  And especially for us book foodies, with so many suggestions, memorable meals, recipes encountered in his full and sometimes even tragic life.  I felt as though I had met and come to know the man, with his sense of humor, conversations on whatever was happening, and sometimes rather dogmatic views, as per the one on NOT EVER cutting your spaghetti. And, not combining the wrong pasta and sauce.  I'm sure I do that on a regular basis.  Occasionally even cut my spaghetti.  OMG!

Oatmeal Lace Cookies and President Roosevelt's Martini

I don't know about you, but if there's a particular sort of novel I especially appreciate, it's one with a competent female protagonist.  Two books I've recently finished illustrate this type. The Dead Cat Bounce, is a mystery series debut featuring Jacobia (Jake) Tiptree, recently retired from the stressful field of financial management in New York, and currently restoring a rambling old fixer-upper on an island in Maine.  She is a money whiz and home repair do-it-yourselfer (with occasional help).   And, just so you know, cat lovers out there, the dead cat bounce is a stock market term.  Her books have the added allure of being funny.Right from the first page:

 "...on that bright April morning when, after living cheerfully and peacefully in the house for over a year, I found a body in the storeroom. Coming upon a body is an experience, like childbirth or a head-on collision, that takes the breath out of a person. I went back through the passageway between the kitchen and the small, unheated room where in spring I kept dog food and dahlia bulbs, and where apparently I now stored corpses."  And, on page 3:

 "People in Eastport do not think the telephone grows naturally out of the tympanic membrane, and some of them will actually decide whether to answer it or not based on what sort of news they are expecting." and further down: "I think Ellie added, 'we should make sure the man is really dead.'  This struck me as pointless, since an ice pick in the cranium promised little in the way of future prospects.  But Ellie was determined; it was part of her down east Maine heritage, like being able to navigate in the fog or knowing how to dress out a deer."

Chocolate Cake with SECRET GF INGREDIENT

I am posting about this cake for two reasons.  One, due to being absolutely ashamed of myself for neglecting this blog.  Have not been posting consistently, and mean to change that.  Secondly, not only was that cake totally delicious, but gluten free.  Now I'm not "normally" a gluten free person.  My husband, Bob, thinks it the joke of the year to ask at the Natural Foods store if he can have some of that free gluten that's going around.  But when our local supermarket coupon booklet came in the mail, with a GF cake on the cover, that was my heads up, knowing I would be having a group of women over, one of whom is, yes GF.

The Chocolate ganache icing was simplicity itself, consisting of just cream and chocolate chips.  The recipe called for coconut milk, but if you have an opened container of cream on hand, I figure go with it.  And, truly the taste cannot be beaten.  Unless you are also lactose free.

Spelt Penne with Mixed Vegetable Ragu

  After making a preparation, which I will not yet name (big secret challenge) I had these vegetables left: 1/4 eggplant in slices, 1/2 small Kabocha pumpkin, 1/4 Portobello mushroom and 1/4 red bell pepper.  So, the idea was to use all that up.  In something delicious, hopefully.  And, this is where a half box of penne pasta came in handy.  And a few other items.  I was thinking of flavorings reminiscent of Puttanesca.  With the anchovies, garlic, capers, red pepper flakes, in a sauce composed of meltingly tender vegetables.  The ones above, with added onions, and tomatoes.  Taste that pops out at you.

And, yes it certainly did.  Pop with flavor that is, in a sauce where the vegetables really shine.  But, that's why we love pasta.  For its endless versatility.  The relationship doesn't get old, when all these new combinations we come up with keep us interested.

Chicken Cannelloni with Alfredo Sauce

This is the gluten-free cannelloni/crepes post I mentioned was in the works, on the Guava Muffin post.  I was very happy with those nutty little crepes and used the extras for Chicken Cannelloni last night.  Sort of a re-cycled Sunday, since we had crepes for breakfast and roast chicken for dinner.  Left-overs becoming the best of both meals.  As far as the photo, if I'd had any brains (wasn't too hungry to think straight) that would have been some fresh tarragon sprigs on top.  Since that's the herb I used inside.  So, use your imagination.

You can buy gluten-free flours, but I like Shauna, the Gluten-Free Girl's idea of mixing up your own AP flour and having it ready to use in a nice container.  That way you can control just what goes in, and it's a great way to start using less gluten.  There may be flours in the store bought mixes that don't agree with you, or you just don't like. I had a lot of miscellaneous flours around, so the added advantage was actually putting them to constructive use.

The idea is to do a combination of 70% whole grain flour and 30% starch.  I used corn flour, sorghum, teff and brown rice flour.  For the starch portion, potato, tapioca and white rice.  Having a digital scale helps a lot.  Just measure 700 grams flour to 30 grams starch, then whisk it all together lightly to mix and aerate the flours.

Guava Muffins with the Homemade Gluten-free Flour Mix

An absolute move over to the gluten-free camp has yet to be achieved.  However, a baby step or two has been taken.  I've been buying Quinoa, corn or rice pastas, and have now made up my own AP flour mix, the one recommended by Shauna, the Gluten-Free Girl, with a 70% whole grain flour to a 30% starch ratio.  My present one being composed of corn flour, brown rice flour, sorghum and teff, with the starch end made up of potato, tapioca and white rice.

I would like to say that these muffins are an unqualified success, but.... not completely happy.  They are good, with a fine light texture, and needing only a tad more definition.  Some graininess.  Oat bran might do it. Does that make sense?  It might be I need to try another mix.  One with fewer components.  Maybe only whole wheat spelt (which has a small amount of gluten) sorghum and quinoa for the flour side and just the tapioca or white rice on the starch side. Of course, then I wouldn't be able to call them gluten-free.  But, it's not like I'm allergic, just that using less gluten is helping joint and arthritis symptoms.  And, experimenting is enjoyable.  Just call me a food scientist.

But the crepes I made with the mix on Sunday morning were great.  It totally worked, giving them a nice nutty character. You don't necessarily want the texture of grain in your crepes.  More on these later.

These fruity muffins use the same clever principle as those Blue Blueberry Muffins I posted about a few years back.  The ones from Joanne Fluke's tasty escapade, the Blueberry Muffin Murder.  Nothing like a good murder mystery with recipes included. What a fun series of books she's written. So, the concept is to add some compote or pie filling in addition to your fresh or frozen fruit, for an extra zap of the flavor.  However, that is where the muffin connection ends.  Shauna's are gluten-free, of course, it goes without saying.  And not so sweet as the Blueberry ones.

Cauliflower and Pennes from Heaven

Adam, the cute and funny Amateur Gourmet, posted about this winning combination last January.  I just got around to making it when finally, some nice looking cauliflowers were spotted in our market.  And, believe me, it is a fairly rare occurrence around here.  The cauliflowers we usually see have splotches of gross mold on them.  Not very appealing.

If produce is not healthy looking and wearing happy faces, I don't think I'm up to making it all better in my kitchen.  You need to start with something that's good.  Same with people.  If the attitude is off, I stay away.

Like today.  I was helping at our Church Bazaar (in the fruits and plants area) and a chef guy who had made the Thai Curry was talking to us.  He said the curry was all sold out.  This was before noon even.  Later I went over to see what food was still available, and there were two big pots of curry - two different kinds.  You have to wonder what that was all about??

My Own Puttanesca

There as many versions of this famous dish, as I'm sure there are of its namesake, those ladies of the night.  What's a girl to do?  When the days are hot, the evenings still warm in the kitchen, and nothing in particular grabs your culinary attention?  You need something with zip and flavor to get you out of the humdrums.

Our solution is to start opening cupboards and fridge, pulling out those staples, hopefully present for times such as this. Things you love and shouldn't be without; Parmigiano Reggiano, anchovies, olives, capers, garlic, red pepper flakes, tomatoes (canned or fresh) and pasta.  Then, you add a bit of something to make it your own.  Substitutions are allowed.  Free expression and all that.

Pesto Penne

This is Pesto with a difference - yes, yet AGAIN.  But hey, Pesto is one of those cooking basics that can be endlessly reinterpreted, which is a good thing.  Because we've got an ongoing need to use up things creatively, not letting good stuff go to waste, right?  So, this time it is Russian kale and sorrel pesto with walnuts, walnut oil and some fresh mint.  Each time, I think, THIS IS IT, the ultimate pesto. But, probably I'll never be content to just stick with one recipe.

It made a great lunch, tossed with penne and a few of the cooked white beans from another fabulous recipe.  One I found to use the first bunch of my CSA sorrel.  I still had some left, which was the motivation here.

More Bananas, Banana Almond Cake

Well, I just discovered that the ground, toasted almonds in my recently made Banana Almond Cake are on the list of trendy foods.  Haven't decided how that changes anything exactly, but hey, guess I'm just so with it.  I was looking for more ways to use up all our bananas.  Did the Passionfruit-Banana Sorbet, dried bananas, Banana Waffles, even sliced one into my Ahi Coconut Curry, a dish I've been making (with variations) a lot lately.  Then discovered this fantastic cake via Jules at thestonesoup blog.  Posted several years ago.  Back when toasted almonds weren't trendy.  She was ahead of her time.

This so beats Banana Bread.  It's in a whole other league, folks.  There's no flour, so it's gluten free, and the cake is light, yet moist from the fruit and ground nuts.  Toasted ground almonds smell so wonderful - they're in the running with fresh ground coffee, grated nutmeg,  and even, yes, chocolate melting. I want to roast and grind some more, just for the aroma, the flavor of which comes through in this cake.  And, as more bananas are on their way......

I used my Sumeet Asia Kitchen Machine, which was mentioned previously in the context of grinding cacao to make truffles.  It whirs them into submission very quickly. And, after the almonds are removed, just dump the bananas in and give them a whir.  So, here's my version of a now trendy cake. 

 

Banana Almond Cake

1 3/4 cups (250 grams) raw almonds, toasted

2 eggs

1/2 cup (110 grams) white sugar

1/2 teas. baking powder

1 3/4 cups (250 grams) bananas, peeled & mashed well

juice of 1/2 lemon

2 teas. lemon zest

2 teas. vanilla extract

1/2 cup sliced almonds

confectioners sugar to dust top before serving

Preheat oven to 300 F ( 150 C).  Butter a 9" (22cm) fluted flan tin with removable base.  Jules recommends taking a large square of baking paper, moistening it, then lining the base and sides of the tin with it.  I only put parchment paper on the bottom, which was a mistake. The cake stuck to the sides, messing with the nice fluted business.  Even with moistening the paper, it seemed there would be big creases around the sides, but next time (and there will be a next time) I'll do it anyway.

Process the whole, toasted almonds until finely ground.  Beat eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy.  Stir the almonds and baking powder well together, then gently add to the eggs.  Puree bananas with lemon juice and stir into the almond mixture with lemon zest and vanilla.  Mix to incorporate, without over doing it, so as not to deflate the eggs.

Pour into your prepared pan, then sprinkle the sliced almonds evenly over the surface.  Bake 40-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Let it cool in the pan on a rack.

Carefully remove from the tin to a serving plate and sift confectioners sugar over the top.  Serve with whipped cream, or whole milk yogurt if desired.  Very much in the Italian tradition of cakes made with seasonal fruits and ground nuts, great for an afternoon snack, along with a glass of vin santo or iced coffee.