Currant-ly Dancing

Do you ever cook for no reason?
Well, obviously it's for a reason, I mean nourishment, right? But, sometimes I find myself cooking on inspiration, or maybe because today is when the first of the new crop is in, or the last day the crop will be harvested. Well, today I cooked something for a few of those reasons, but mostly, because I just love all of the ingredients.


I once heard someone say, "cooking with a recipe is like dancing with an instruction manual, but baking is different". Baking requires a manual, a recipe, some science. Which might be why some people just won't bake. I am a savory cook at heart, give me eggs and potatoes over waffles any day. Though, I like to bake too, and I bake like a dancing fool, holding an instruction manual.
This is what happened today when I found a few special ingredients that inspired me, got me dancing, baking and rewriting the instruction manual.

Almond Cake with Fresh Currants and Caramelized Kumquat-Ginger Glaze

Currants look so fantastic, though flavor-wise, they are a bit like cranberries in their raw form, the almond cake is very mellow, and the glaze is sweet - all together they are spectacular.

1 cup Confectioner’s sugar
2 1/2 cups Almond flour (I make my own by a sprinkle of flour over raw sliced almonds, pulverized in a food processor)
1 1/4 cup King Arthur a.p. flour
16 Egg whites
1 1/4 tsp Baking powder
10 oz Butter
Zest of 2 oranges
Red currants, washed, no stem

for the glaze:
18 (or so) Kumquats, cut in half, pick out visible seeds
2/3 cup Crystallized ginger cut into short julienne
1 Cinnamon stick
1/2 Vanilla bean cut in 1/2 lengthwise
3 cups Orange juice
3/4 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Vermont Maple syrup
1/2 cup Red currants, washed, no stem


Preheat your oven at 350 F.
Melt the butter in a pot.
Sift the flour and sugar separately.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl: flour, almond flour,orange zest, sugar and baking powder
Whisk and add the white eggs mix into dry ingredients
Add the melted butter, mix
Butter cake pans sprinkle a few currants on the bottom of pan
Fill pan with batter
Place more currants on top
Bake for about 30+ minutes or until the cake has set
Remove from the oven and let cool down before unmolding on a cooling rack

For the glaze:
Place all ingredients except currants in sauce pan over medium heat
Simmer and reduce
Once the liquid becomes thick allow to cook further until you get very small rapid bubbles and the sugars begin to caramelize
Immediately, but slowly add about 1 cup of water (you might not need it all) to the sauce mixing in the sauce will be loose, until it cools, and then should be glaze consistency, mix in the currants while the glaze is still hot, once cool, remove vanilla and cinnamon stick.
I had to have some whipped cream with it, I mean how could I not? Lightly sweetened and lightly whipped, perfect. Before I end this, just a note about kumquats, many people don't seem to love them like I do, or actually, I guess they don't really even know how tasty they actually are. Just remember, unlike an orange, it's the skin that is sweet and the inside is not (and the seeds are just not good at all).
Thanks for reading, and whether you cook from inspiration or necessity, if you dance or if you read a manual, just remember to Cook from your heart!

Cabin Fever

The cold is over, I can write again.
Yes, it happens every year, a few days of "did you hear how cold it's going to be?". The cold really had no effect on me writing a new blog entry, but if there was an excuse I suppose that would be a good one. Well, the deep chill ends today, new snow is on the way and winter wonderland resumes.
Here's Rob and Amy getting ready for one of our Moonlight Snowshoe Trips. I snapped this as I was walking into the barn this afternoon. The duo pack up and head out to the cabin, just through the woods across from the Round Barn and begin to prepare. Amy stays at the cabin, Rob takes the snowmobile back to meet the guests at the Inn. Fitted with snowshoes, Rob leads the entourage through the moonlight into the woods. After meandering through the trees, the group will discover the cabin, with fire pit and candles outside and Amy who welcomes the group to go in and gather around the field stone fireplace or the antique cookstove, no electricity, no phones, no stress, just Amy's feast.
It's amazing. Really. I think there will be a "cabin food" entry in the near future, I am quite sure of it.

Oh my that's pie!

Snow, snow, snow. We got a Nor'easter today, in fact it is still happening as I write this. We should get a foot of the fluffy white stuff before it is over tomorrow.
Everyday at the Round Barn inn we serve afternoon "snacks", what some inns might call "tea" we prefer to be a bit more relaxed. Every afternoon when the guests are arriving back to the inn from their busy day; whether at the slopes, shopping, or just sight seeing, we love to offer something to come home to. As I mentioned, it was snowing (and still snowing!), so in light of this, I thought, hearty, warm, and comfort food. Now of course don't get me wrong, the snow is great for the snowshoeing, skiers and riders (and everyone else), but this little story is about pie, not snow, not skiing, just pie - chicken pie.

Did I mention it was snowing? I think I also mentioned that I decided I to prepare something a bit heartier for our guests in case of being snowed in (hmmm, sounds pretty good to me), this is when I tell you of the chicken pot pie.
It used to be that dishes like pot pies, stews and the like were a good way to utilize leftovers or lesser used cuts of meat. So, I had some Misty Knoll Chicken legs and thighs, I seasoned them well, seared them, braised them and then I picked the meat, mixed it with some roasted root vegetables, in a rich creamy chicken gravy and let it cool. Next, I made the shell.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose King Arthur flour
1 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted Vermont butter, cut into small pieces
2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
5 tablespoons cold water

Pulse flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor to combine. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 seconds. Add yolk; pulse. With machine running, add cold water in a slow, steady stream through feed tube; process until dough just holds together (no more than 20 - 30 seconds). Empty the processor onto counter, and finish kneading the dough by hand using the heal of your hand, do not over handle, and make the dough warm. Shape into a disk about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Preheat over to 400 degrees. Roll out dough to about 1/8 inch thick (well a bit thicker) Line your sprayed pie dish with the dough. I like to have the dough hang out considerably, so that I can double over (under actually) the crust for crimping it gives a big bold regal like appearance, and when your crust is tasty, why not? Next, you dock the dough, that's where you take a fork and make holes in it, like a cracker. Line the crust with parchment paper, or wax paper, or foil if need be, line with pie beans, or whatever pie weight you like. What we are doing here is called blind baking. The shells are now ready for the oven, bake at 400 degrees for about 4 minutes then turn the heat down to about 325 and continue to bake about 15 more minutes, watch your crust edges to be sure they do not brown too quickly and watch the center to be sure it bakes. The center of the shell should not brown, it should just "firm up".
Roll out more dough and cut into 1/2 inch x 10 inch strips about 8 strips. When the shell is cooled fill with the pot pie mix and make some nice lattice work on top with the dough strips, brush with a beaten egg (just the strips). Now your pie is ready to be baked and served, you will need to bake at 300 degrees for about 40 minutes or until the center of the pie reaches 160 degrees.

Fresh Pot pie. Perfect. Comfort food at it's finest.
The beauty of the dish is, you can hold it for a day (or two if you have to) and finish baking later. Isn't winter wonderful?
Thanks for reading, and remember, Cook from your heart!