Lemon Capri Torte

Simply put ~ I love lemon! But, shhhh, don't tell chocolate. 

Secondly, I'm a recipe-aholic.  I have a 588 megabytes of dessert recipes alone saved on my computer. My entire recipe folder contains over 2-1/2 gigabytes of recipes.  I will never make most of them.  But when the recipe has the word 'lemon' in it somehow it manages to surface...at some point.

At the end of summer we entertained some good friends for dinner.  The husband happens to be even more of a lemon-lover than I am, so I decided to try this Sophie Dahl recipe that had been lost in megabytes for over a year.  The verdict - Delicious! Of all the lemon tarts I've made over the years, my friend said he liked this lemon dessert the best because of the moist and dense cake texture.

Gluten free if you use the potato flour!

I served it with a dollop of lemon curd just to add to the lemon-y goodness.  You can find an easy recipe for homemade lemon curd made in the microwave here.

Once again, it's the end of the month and time to join Al Dente Gourmet's photography challenge for our Oh Happy Plates Group on Pinterest.  This month the challenge was citrus.  How perfect. 

Lemon Capri Torte

Adapted from Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights by Sophie Dahl
Printable Recipe

Sophie Dahl:  I got this recipe from a taxi driver in Sorrento who was big on cooking. He said his wife and daughters begged him not to cook because he left the kitchen in such a mess!

Serves 6

1-1/2 sticks of butter, plus extra for greasing
1 cup fine (bakers) sugar
6 eggs, separated
Zest and juice of four lemons
2 cups blanched almonds, toasted then ground to as fine a consistency as possible in food processor
1 cup potato flour (or substitute plain flour), plus more for dusting the pan

Preheat oven to 400°F

Grease and flour a 9 inch round cake tin or pan (preferably spring form).

Cream the sugar and butter together with a mixer until smooth.

Add the egg yolks, then lemon zest and juice and mix together.

In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites until they form soft peaks then add to the egg yolk mixture.

Fold in ground almonds and flour.

Pour mixture into prepared cake pan and bake for 10 minutes.

Turn oven 300°F and bake for another 40 minutes.

Remove, cool and invert onto a platter.

Fig and Chickpea "Sausage"

Today, I bring you a recipe found in the local newspaper this summer in the weekly column of our James Beard Award-winning chef, Sanford d'Amato.

You may have seen the faux sausages made with chocolate and nuts.  This one is made with figs, prunes and 'candied' chickpeas (which represent the 'fat' in the faux sausages)! A reduction of red wine, balsamic vinegar, pomegranate juice, herbs and spices infuse the dried fruit with amazing flavor. This is delicious paired with a variety of cheeses for a fun and delicious appetizer.  The nice thing about the recipe is that you use dried figs rather than fresh figs so you can make this year-round.

The only problem that I had with the recipe was the mixture remained far too sticky, even after being chilled overnight.  I remedied that by adding unflavored gelatine which firmed it up perfectly without changing the flavor.

ps:  If you see a few remaining 'summery looking' posts, please forgive me...I've been so busy this summer I haven't had time to post them all :)

Fig and Chickpea Sausage

Adapted from Sandy D'Amato for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Printable Recipe

Makes 4 sausages (about 6 ounces each)

Note: Candied Chickpeas can be started 1-2 days ahead - See recipe below

1 quart dry red wine
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
½ cup pure pomegranate juice
1 ½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 sprig of fresh thyme
1 (5-inch) sprig of fresh rosemary
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick
3 bay leaves
2 whole star anise
½ teaspoon kosher salt

6 ounces pitted prunes
8 ounces dry Mission figs, stems removed
2 envelopes Knox unflavored gelatin (my addition as I found the mixture far too sticky)

Place first 10 ingredients in a stainless saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce by half, about 15 to 20 minutes. Add prunes and figs, bring to a simmer, cover partially and cook about 35 to 40 minutes, until figs are tender and liquid is completely reduced to dry; uncover the last 5 minutes of cooking and stir constantly with a heatproof spatula to make sure fruit does not scorch on bottom of pan while liquid is reducing. Remove from heat and remove thyme, rosemary, cinnamon, bay leaves and star anise.

In a food processor, puree one-fourth of the mixture until fine, about 10 to 15 seconds. Mix puree back into pot, add the Knox Gelatin and gently simmer for a few minutes until the gelatin is dissolved.  Add the remaining fruit, fold in the Candied Chickpeas and cool to room temperature.

Divide mixture into four equal portions and place on individual sheets of plastic wrap.  Wrap plastic wrap around mixture and roll and shape each into roughly 6 by 2 inch sausage forms. The mixture will be sticky but will firm up in the refrigerator. Twist the sides of the plastic wrap together to compact the sausage. Place wrapped sausages on a plate and refrigerate, preferably overnight.

When ready to use, unwrap and slice with a sharp knife dipped in a touch of corn oil. Serve with cheeses of your choice.

Candied chickpeas: (Can me made the day before)

½ cup dried chickpeas
3 tablespoons sugar
1 bay leaf
1 star anise
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt

Wash and soak chickpeas overnight in 4 times their volume of hot tap water, covered.

Drain chickpeas, place in a pot with remaining ingredients, cover with water to at least 3 inches above chickpeas and bring to a boil. Lightly boil, half-covered, about 50 minutes to 1 hour until very tender but not falling apart. Drain, cool and reserve.

Torta Caprese with Lemon Mascarpone

As promised, I'm finally posting the dessert recipe from our gourmet group gathering that my husband and I hosted this summer! I know, it took me long enough, but I needed a reason to recreate it to get some good photos and having friends over for dessert after dinner out was the perfect occasion.

The recipe is from Rozanne Gold who writes for a food magazine called Real Food which I find at my local grocery store.  I bought the Summer 2012 issue when I was looking for recipes for our party.  Ms. Gold gives credit for her adaptation to Arthur Schwartz' cookbook "Naples at Table: Cooking in Campania".

This is a dense, dark chocolate cake made with almond flour that I made myself in a food processor with blanched almonds (which means it's gluten free!). Ms. Gold's added touch is a hint of espresso and almond extract to boost the chocolate flavor. The crowning glory is a dollop of lemony, whipped mascarpone cheese for a delightful contrast of flavors and textures.

Torta Caprese with Lemon Mascarpone 

Adapted from Roseanne Gold for Real Food magazine

Printable Recipe

Serves 10-12

2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
12 ounces blanched almonds
6 extra-large eggs, separated
1 tablespoon espresso powder
¼ teaspoon almond extract
1 cup sugar

6 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
12-14 ounces mascarpone*
1 very large lemon

*Note:  We doubled the mascarpone recipe for 10 people

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place rack in bottom third of the oven. Using 1 tablespoon butter, butter bottom and sides of a 10-inch removable bottom cake pan. Line the bottom with a round of parchment paper and butter the paper.

Melt the remaining butter and chocolate in a heavy saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth, stirring often.

Process the almonds in two batches, each with 2 tablespoons sugar, until very fine and powdery. Transfer to a large bowl. Stir in espresso powder. Set aside.

Beat yolks until light and thick, about 3 minutes. Add ½ cup sugar and beat 2 minutes longer. Add the melted chocolate and the almond extract to the yolks. Stir well. Stir in the ground almonds until thoroughly mixed. Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt and ¼ cup remaining sugar until very stiff. Add beaten whites to the batter in 2 batches until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake on a rack placed in the bottom third of the oven for 1 to 1-1/4 hours or until the cake is just firm. Cool and invert. Remove paper. Dust with 2 tablespoons confectioners sugar pushed through a sieve.

Lemon mascarpone: Beat mascarpone with 6 tablespoons confectioners sugar. Grate the lemon zest and add to mascarpone with 1 to 2 teaspoons lemon juice and a large pinch of salt. Refrigerate until about 1 hour before serving. Whip gently with a large fork and serve a large dollop with each slice of cake. (If the lemon mascarpone is too thick, you can add a teaspoon or so of milk or light cream and whip again.) 

Tomatoes - Garden Fresh and Oven Dried

Earlier in the summer,  I mentioned that it was going to be a busy season for me and I that may not be posting or able to comment as often as I'd like.  One of the events that made it a busy, but fun, summer was a destination wedding that my husband and I attended in the Colorado mountains last weekend.  We had been to the Rockies on ski trips when our daughters were still living at home but we had never been in the mountains during summer.  We were blown away at how beautiful it was!

We were able to visit a couple of outdoor markets while we were there and I have to tell you that the Colorado produce was fantastic.  We were served a dessert with fresh, Colorado peaches that rivaled any other peach I've ever tasted.  The tomatoes were also amazing.  No wonder, since Colorado boasts that it has 300 sunny days a year.

With our hot, dry and sunny summer, my tomatoes have been enjoying a very productive season also.  Even though it takes lots of TLC to keep them watered this year, they do love the heat and non-humid conditions which is not our norm living next to Lake Michigan.

My cherry tomato plant is particularly happy and I recently made some oven dried tomatoes with them. They are especially good in pasta dishes and also salads as they aren't as hard as commercially dried tomatoes.

I've made oven dried tomatoes several times before, but the technique I used this time was borrowed from A View from Great Island. The thing I liked most about her method was that she gently squeezed out most of the liquid and seeds from each tomato half before putting them in the oven which allows them to dry in the oven even better.

The Method:

Preheat Oven to 200F

1.  Halve the tomatoes and squeeze each half to release some of the juices and pulp.  

2.  Place in a bowl and drizzle with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and toss gently.

3.  Place cut side up on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.  

4.  Bake and dry for about 4 hours or so in the preheated oven.

5.  Pack in a clean jar with some sprigs of rosemary, and then fill the jar with olive oil to use later or, as I did, after they are cool, freeze them on the baking sheet and then put into plastic freezer bags to use all winter.