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Moist Macadamia Nut Coffee Cake

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Macadamia Nut Coffee Cake n

Crunchy, salted and toasted macadamia nuts knock this moist coffee cake recipe out of the park.

I’ve started on a project to collect excellent “base” recipes to which I can easily interchange ingredients. My initial collection includes baked goods such as braided bread, muffins and bagels. With this collection in mind, I opened one of my favorite baking recipe books, The Williams-Sonoma Baking Book, and flipped through it to my go-to focaccia recipe. On my way to that recipe, I was distracted by a delicious-looking macadamia nut coffee cake recipe.

Some of my best side trips have been when I have given in to distraction. This was definitely a worthy side trip! I did adapt the recipe slightly, but it turns out that it perfectly fit my definition of a “base” recipe. Macadamia nuts could be swapped out for other kinds of nuts. Dried fruit could be added or even a thin layer of homemade jam in the middle. Now there’s an idea!

Macadamia Nut Coffee Cake

Ingredients

Topping

  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp galangal (or 1/2 tsp ground ginger)
  • 6 tbsp unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces

Cake

  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • pinch salt
  • 1 cup plain yogurt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup roasted macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9 inch springform pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
  2. Make topping. In a small bowl whisk together first four topping ingredients. Rub in butter with your fingers until coarse crumbs form. Set bowl aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together first six cake ingredients.
  4. In another medium bowl, mix together yogurt, eggs, oil, and vanilla.
  5. Pour wet ingredients into dry. Mix well.
  6. Pour half the batter into prepared springform pan.
  7. Sprinkle half of topping mixture evenly onto batter.
  8. Cover evenly with remaining batter.
  9. Sprinkle nuts evenly over top of batter. Press them into batter slightly.
  10. Cover with remaining topping.
  11. Bake for 40 – 45 minutes. Top should be golden brown and a wooden pick inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean.
  12. Cool pan on wire rack for 20 minutes.
  13. Remove sides of springform pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Chewy Melty Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

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Double chocolate oatmeal cookies n

Some people enjoy warm chocolatey cookies with cold glasses of milk. We prefer ours with a splash of bourbon. 

This recipe adds to the already deliciously chewy texture of oatmeal cookies by including cocoa powder for another layer of flavor. A zip of cinnamon adds still another layer. We couldn’t wait for these to cool. We were rewarded with a scrumptious cookie with a rich melty center, thanks to the chocolate chips. Perfect on a day when a rare fog crept into Ulaanbaatar “on little cat feet” and froze to bare tree branches.

Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 3 tbsp dutch processed cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • generous pinch salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup butter, unsalted
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • generous 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
  3. Whisk together the following dry ingredients:  flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.
  4. In a medium pot over medium heat, melt butter. When butter is melted, remove pot from heat.
  5. Mix sugar and honey into melted butter.
  6. Mix egg and vanilla into sugar mixture.
  7. Stir dry ingredients into sugar mixture. Mix well.
  8. Fold oats into dough.
  9. Fold chocolate chips into dough.
  10. Place tablespoon-sized scoops of dough onto prepared baking sheets. Press dough down to flatten slightly.
  11. Bake for 8 – 10 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes before removing to wire rack to finish cooling. Enjoy while still warm and melty.

 

The Yin and Yang of Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Yin Yang Chocolate chip cookies n

Which side is more delicious? The chocolate with white chocolate chips? Or the traditional chocolate chip side? 

Life is too short for just one kind of cookie. Combine two cookie doughs that take about the same amount of time to bake and you have a recipe for a cookie which will disappear in the blink of an eye! These cookies were as fun to make as they were to eat… play dough for a baker!

Yin Yang Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

Chocolate Chip Dough

  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • pinch salt
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

White Chocolate Chip Chocolate Dough

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 10 tbsp dutch processed cocoa
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • pinch salt
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Make the chocolate chip dough.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together butter, sugars, egg and vanilla.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
  4. Thoroughly mix the flour mixture into the butter mixture.
  5. Fold chocolate chips into dough.
  6. Turn dough out onto piece of plastic wrap. Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
  7. Make the white chocolate chip chocolate dough.
  8. In a large bowl, mix together butter, sugars, egg and vanilla.
  9. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.
  10. Thoroughly mix the flour mixture into the butter mixture.
  11. Fold white chocolate chips into dough.
  12. Turn dough out onto piece of plastic wrap. Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
  13. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
  14. Take a tablespoon of the light dough and roll into a ball.
  15. Take a tablespoon of the chocolate dough and roll into a ball.
  16. Cut each ball in half and press the opposite doughs together, so you have a ball of half chocolate chip dough and half white chocolate chip dough.
  17. Press the balls slightly and place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat process until the baking sheet is filled. I fit 20 cookies on a sheet.
  18. Bake cookies for about 10 minutes. I like mine soft, so they will appear slightly underdone at 10 minutes. Bake a couple of minutes longer for a crunchier cookie.
  19. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.

Makes about 60 cookies.

Back on the Water: Upriver Grayling in Mongolia

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It felt good to finally get out on water. Prospecting for these handsomely marked grayling on a small river in Mongolia took us back to prospecting for trout in small waters in other places.

Nearly as translucent as water and marked like colored glass, the grayling’s dorsal fin…

By mid-September, autumn has come to Mongolia’s steppes and mountains. By the end of September, we’ll have had our first snows.

Sluggish with cold and dark with Autumn, one of the year’s last grasshoppers. 

Yellows, golds and browns mixed with the blue-green of evergreens, predominant fall colors across this land. Here and there a touch of crimson. 

Feet up. Water pours across the floorboards of the doorless Polaris Ranger. One of several crossings.

Not everyone made it.

Stringing up. Something between rumor and someone’s good authority sent us up to these headwaters, prospecting.

I stuck my camera into the icy water to get a photo of rocks speckled with caddis casings. 

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We encountered sporadic blue-winged olive mayflies. Rocks we flipped revealed caddis and stoneflies, a few loaches and this dragonfly nymph. 

Possible water, but not promising. Larch trees yellowed by frost-laced mornings, pools in shaded feeder streams iced over.

It feels like a lifetime ago that we were on our boat in Alaska, filling coolers with a years’ worth of ocean bright salmon, halibut and rockfish to sustain us through months in the Arctic Bush. Back to roots – a fly rod, a small river, drifting nymphs and dries. Bone satisfying to once again feel the weight of a fish. Could be a rainbow stream in Colorado, cutthroat water in Oregon, a brookie creek in Pennsylvania or a yamame stream in Japan. It all feels like home.

Barbra’s first grayling and her first fish in Mongolia.

We hiked and drove and hiked some more. At last we found the water I’d been looking for – the right depth, the right flow, the right-sized boulders breaking up the bottom at the right intervals. And there in front of us, tens of fish materialized out of nothing – out of water as clear as air – porpoising and splashing across a run maybe 60 feet long and half that width in pursuit of something tiny emerging from the water. Several times these grayling rocketed completely out of the water as they threw themselves at our mayfly patterns. A number of times we were both hooked up, simultaneously.

Eight inches or eighty pounds… It never gets old. The grayling were still feeding when we left, reluctantly, the sun low behind clouds.

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A backward look…

Grayling. Grayling water. Mongolia…

The Suffering Bastard – a Toast to the End of Summer and the Beginning of Fall

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Suffering Bastard n

The end of summer, the beginning of autumn – and a little of both in this lovely drink that combines citrus, bourbon, gin and ginger ale.

Sometime during the late 40’s in Cairo, Egypt, a bartender by the name of Joe Scialom thought to combine gin and brandy to remedy his hangover. A bit of lime cordial gave the drink a citrusy zip and a few ounces of ginger ale added fizz. In 1950, Time Magazine reported that it was “Egypt’s favorite drink.” At any rate, the concoction was popular at the original Shepard’s Hotel were Scialom was employed until the hotel burned down in 1952.

These days, Suffering Bastard’s are more commonly made with bourbon than brandy, and although the original called for bitters, we’ve omitted it here. Pick a glass, add ice, pour in the ingredients and give it a stir.

Suffering Bastard

Ingredients

  • 1 ounce bourbon
  • 1 ounce gin
  • 1 ounce lime juice
  • 4 ounces cold ginger ale

Directions

  1. Fill an old fashioned glass with cubed ice.
  2. Pour bourbon, gin, lime juice, and ginger ale over ice.
  3. Give it a quick stir and garnish with a slice of lime.

 

 

 

 

 

Our Annual Mongolian Khorkhog

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exploding khorkhog n

Packed with sheep, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, sizzling hot fist-sized rocks and water, the piping hot contents of this milk can are tender and ready to be served. Let the khorkhog begin!

It’s a a tradition keenly anticipated at the International School of Ulaanbaatar (ISU). With our first week of school behind us, it’s time for faculty, staff and administrators to relax in the style of traditional Mongolia – with a khorkhog. In days past, the animal’s stomach would have served as the cooking pot. These days, it’s more common for khorkhog to be slow roasted with hot rocks, meat and vegetables placed in an old-fashioned milk can. Prepared thus, the meat comes out tender and flavorful, though as the photo suggests, containers are to be opened with caution.

steaming khorkhog n

A shovel handle is used to apply pressure to the milk can to slowly let off steam while ISU’s driver turned chef Baatar pulls a roasted potato from another can.

With a faculty, staff and student body representing over 30 nationalities, ISU is truly an international school. But the school’s roots are planted firmly in Mongolia. The site selected for this year’s khorkhog is on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar on the shoulders of Bogd Khan Mountain, a place Mongolians point to with pride as the world’s oldest national park. An easy bike ride from our Ulaanbaatar apartment, we’ve come across signs of deer and wild boar on hikes and rides through the hills, and have encountered fox, sable, marmots and Eurasian red squirrels. We’ve also focused our binoculars on dozens of species of birds including demoiselle cranes, hoopoes, falcons, eagles, hawks, kites and numerous song birds.

imperial eager n

Circling high overhead, an imperial eagle checked out our feast.

khorkhog musicians in cell phone n

Song is a rich tradition in Mongolia, and once stomachs were full a guitar and drum came out. 

khorkhog singing n

Everyone knew the words to the Beatles’ classics!

khorkhog soccer n

Meanwhile, a group found a perfect pitch speckled with wildflowers for a game.

tug of war n

Rounds of tug-of-war were amiable enough…

wrestling at khorkhog n

… but wrestling, one of the Mongolia’s national sports, always has a serious edge to it.

Recent rains have turned the fields and forest lush shades of green, and wildflowers – not to mention abundant wild herbs such as mint, sage and caraway – are everywhere.

Mongolia fall foiliage n

Situated at over 1,300 meters (4,300 feet) above sea level and not terribly far south of Siberia, fall comes quickly on the heels of summer in Ulaanbaatar. Already nights are growing cool. In a few weeks time the larch trees where we recently held our khorkhog feast will turn gold with autumn. 

Good Morning, Ulaanbaatar! Carrot, Pineapple and More Muffins

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carrot pineapple muffins n

Moist, delicious muffins filled with carrots, pineapple, pecans, and currants.

Sometimes, I wake up and want muffins for breakfast. The beauty of this muffin recipe is two-fold. It’s a quick recipe. Fifteen minutes after they were popped into the oven, they were ready to eat! And the recipe is a great base recipe. So many of the ingredients could be swapped for others to result in another version of a moist, tasty muffin. The carrots could be swapped with grated zucchini or summer squash. The pineapple could be replaced by chopped apple or smashed banana. The pecans and currants could be traded with any kind of nuts and dried fruits. The variations can be as wild as you can imagine.  Just check your pantry and make a batch!

Carrot, Pineapple and More Muffins

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup sour cream
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • pinch salt
  • 1 cup grated carrots
  • 1 cup chopped pineapple
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/3 cup dried currants

Directions

  1. Grease 12-muffin tin. Set aside.
  2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together first 5 ingredients.
  4. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  5. Stir carrots, pineapple, pecans and currants into flour mixture.
  6. Stir egg mixture into flour mixture until just combined.
  7. Divide batter evenly into prepared muffin tin.
  8. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes, until tops are golden brown and spring back to the touch.

Mushroom and Lentil Pâté

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mushroom lentil pate n

Unbelievably meaty flavor for a delicious vegan pâté. Serve it on crispy bread, crunchy crackers, or a leaf of fresh romaine lettuce as an appetizer to please friends of all eating persuasions. 

Jack and I are intrigued with all foods. Confirmed omnivores, we never pass up an opportunity to try something new. A visit to my sister, who is a devout vegan (and gluten free) inspired us to walk in her culinary shoes for a bit.

Growing up in a household flavored with Swiss and Jewish heritage, my sister and I were exposed to world flavors from a very young age. Both of us have fond food memories from this period in our lives. One of our favorites was chopped chicken liver which is a rich pâté featuring the flavors of chicken fat and caramelized onions. We loved this spread on toast or crackers along with a slice of tomato and a sprinkle of salt.

This mushroom and lentil pâté has a surprisingly similar flavor and texture to chopped chicken liver or even duck liver pâté. My sister and I made this recipe together last week and couldn’t stop eating it. For the benefit of her current diet, we served the pâté on crisp pieces of romaine lettuce instead of crackers. A healthy smear of the pâté on the lettuce layered with a slice of heirloom tomato and a dash of salt brought us right back to a childhood favorite.

We made this recipe a second time substituting the agave nectar with honey and substituting two tablespoons of the extra virgin olive oil with unsalted butter for an even richer flavor. These changes take the recipe from vegan status to vegetarian.

Mushroom and Lentil Pâté

Ingredients

  • 2 cups cooked lentils
  • 2 cups chopped mushrooms, shiitake or crimini work well
  • 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 4 cloves garlic, diced
  • 1 cup toasted and ground almonds
  • 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tsp rosemary
  • 1 tsp thyme
  • 1 tsp agave nectar
  • pinch cayenne pepper
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • extra olive oil, needed

Directions

  1. In a large sauté pan, heat 4 tbsp olive oil over medium heat.
  2. Add onions and sauté until translucent.
  3. Add garlic and sauté for 2 minutes.
  4. Add mushrooms and cook until they are soft and cooked through. Remove from heat and set aside.
  5.  In a large bowl, combine almonds, lemon juice, soy sauce, rosemary, thyme, sage, honey, and chipotle.
  6. Stir in mushroom mixture.
  7. Using a stick blender (or food processor), purée the mixture.
  8. Add in cooked lentils.
  9. Purée the mixture.
  10. If the mixture feels too thick, thin it with additional olive oil.
  11. Salt and pepper to taste.

Homemade Ricotta Gnocchi

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gnocchi w summer squash n

Oh so fluffy…pillowy soft and flavorful… that’s how to describe these homemade ricotta gnocchi. We oohed and aahed after every bite.

Every summer, free from the distractions of work, we set goals – projects to push ourselves as we explore passions and interests. This summer we decided to focus on things culinary. With three different Culinary Institute of America courses from The Great Courses waiting for us to dive into, we donned aprons, dusted off the DVD player, and got our notebooks ready for shopping lists, culinary tips and instructions.

Today’s challenge was ricotta gnocchi. We had made roasted squash gnocchi back in Alaska, so the concept of this delicious handmade pasta was not new to us, but this time we were anticipating a more traditional version of this classic dish. We began preparing for this batch of gnocchi a couple of days in advance by making a homemade ricotta-type cheese. You can find that easy-to-prepare recipe here. This surprisingly easy to make cheese is perfect for this gnocchi recipe, or you can use store-bought ricotta. Whether you make your own ricotta or buy it, you’ll want to let it dry out a bit by hanging it in cheesecloth overnight in the refrigerator.

Our CIA instructor, Chef Bill Briwa, began by making the dough and then rolling it out into long logs which he then cut into bite-sized pieces. He gave each piece a decorative pinch between his thumb and forefinger. As an alternative method of giving gnocchi a pleasing shape, I recalled seeing a video in which Italian grandmothers rolled the gnocchi down the back of a long-tined dinner fork to create decorative ridges to hold the sauce. With a lifetime of experience behind them, these women worked with incredible speed! Determined to make the Italian grannies proud, Jack and I quickly (although not as quickly as these women) rolled logs of dough, sliced bite-sized pieces, and rolled our gnocchi down the backs of forks. Given our lack of experience and how quickly and attractively the gnocchi came out, we clearly had good teachers.

And the result? Oh my. We made a light sauce featuring butter, olive oil and garlic, sliced fresh  summer squash thin on a mandolin, added a few halved cherry tomatoes, and briefly cooked up the sauce. It was perfect on the pillowy, flavorful gnocchi, as was the chilled bottle of Spanish Chardonnay we served. Fantastico!

Ricotta Gnocchi

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups dry ricotta (if you don’t want to make your own, you could hang store bought ricotta in cheesecloth overnight to reduce extra moisture)
  • 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
  • 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
  • 1 egg plus 1 yolk
  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
  • salt and pepper
  • semolina flour for dusting

Directions

  1. Mix together ricotta, Parmesan cheese, flour, and nutmeg.
  2. Thoroughly mix in eggs.
  3. Mix in butter.
  4. Salt and pepper to taste.
  5. Sprinkle working surface with semolina. Use a fairly generous amount. This will absorb the excess moisture while the dough rests.
  6. Take 1/4 of the dough and roll it into a long log.
  7. Cut bite-sized pieces and set them aside on a piece of parchment paper.
  8. Repeat with remaining quarters of dough.
  9. Cook gnocchi in salted, simmering water. Gnocchi will float to the top when they are finished cooking.
  10. Gnocchi is more delicate than other pastas. So it’s best to remove it gently with a slotted spoon or similar tool. Serve immediately with a light sauce.

Gnocchi freezes well. Initially freeze while on parchment paper on a tray in order to keep the gnocchi separate, then transfer to a zip top bag.

Common Merganser with Chicks, Tuul River, Ulaanbaatar

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common merganser 2015 Tuul River n

A healthy family of common mergansers (Mergus merganser) indicates an abundance of small fish in the Tuul River on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Mergansers are large diving ducks that subsist primarily on fish, although the young also fill up on aquatic insects such a the larva of mayflies and stoneflies. They make their nests in cavities in trees, sometimes a good distance from water. Less frequently, mergansers nest in holes in cliffs or high banks. They can be found on open water throughout the Northern Hemisphere, and are a good indicator of clean water and healthy populations of small fish.

Common Merganser hen 2015 n

If you look closely, you can make out the serrations on her bill – the perfect adaptation for holding onto fish. In contrast to the females, the drakes’ heads are dark green, their flanks are white and their backs are black. Although common mergansers are usually encountered on freshwater lakes and rivers, they are frequently seen in coastal bays and estuaries as well.

Common merganser family Tuul n

A baleful eye tells us we’ve approached close enough. Undisturbed this family went about their business, dipping their heads underwater in search of food as they paddled along the river’s current breaks.