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Bavarian Apple Torte

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A big box of aging Granny Smith apples showed up at school. They were bumped and bruised but still firm and perfect for baking. With no one else showing interest in them, I took half-a-dozen home.

The grocery store reduces the price of overstocked items and expired items. We are always on the lookout for deals at the store because prices are through the roof up here. Remember the $8 red bell pepper?

A few Granny Smith apples and a package of just-expired but still perfectly good cream cheese were the inspiration for last weekend’s baking wonder. I searched allrecipes.com, which has a cool feature where the user can enter ingredients and matching recipes will be generated. A Bavarian Apple Torte recipe sounded great. The torte is built on a layer of shortbread cookie followed by vanilla cheesecake. This in turn is topped with baked apple slices tossed with cinnamon and sprinkled with sliced almonds.

Jack and I had a slice with our dinner that evening. It was incredible! The next morning, I took the rest of the torte to the school office where it disappeared in minutes (or seconds). The verdict was unanimous: this dessert is phenomenal. Hands down the best dessert I’ve ever made — and I’ve made lots! The other point in its favor? It’s incredibly easy to make. You will impress anyone you serve this to.

So, what are you waiting for?

Bavarian Apple Torte

12 servings

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar, divided into thirds
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 (250 g/8 oz.) brick of cream cheese, softened
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 4 Granny Smith apples, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 1/4 cup sliced almonds

Directions

  1. Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Beat butter and 1/3 cup of the sugar in small bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add flour; mix well. Spread onto bottom and 1 inch up side of 9-inch springform pan.
  2. Beat cream cheese and 1/3 cup of the remaining sugar in same bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Spread evenly over crust. In a large bowl, combine remaining 1/3 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Add apples; toss to coat. Spoon over cream cheese layer; sprinkle with almonds.
  3. Bake 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 375 degrees F; continue baking 25 minutes or until center is set. Cool on wire rack. Loosen torte from rim of pan. Cover and refrigerate 3 hours before serving. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

Recipe from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/philly-bavarian-apple-torte/detail.aspx.

84 Below

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The afternoon winter sun, low on the horizon, backlights an ice-frosted double-paned window on the south side of Tikigaq School.

A few lights from the school and the town peel back the pre-dawn blackness as we begin our short morning walk to school. Steam oozes from nearby buildings–not just from furnace vents, but from every crack and seam, and every molecule of water freezes or vaporizes almost instantly. Brutally cold gusts of wind lift sheets of snow from the ground, at times creating blizzard-like conditions. Our faces begin hurting mere steps from our house. The cold gets in our lungs and makes us cough. Frostbite will nip any exposed skin within five minutes in these conditions.

This is a new cold, a cold we haven’t experienced before. Later in the day, Barbra and I take a cup of near-boiling water outside and slowly pour it out. Most of it turns to steam, vaporizing before it ever hits the ground.

We check NOAA on the computer: 84 below with the windchill.

Pesto Bread

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Another delicious bread machine recipe from 300 best Bread Machine recipes! Imagine your kitchen filling with the aromas of basil and parmesan cheese mixing with fresh baking bread. We were poised by the machine armed with butter knives and butter waiting eagerly for the machine to complete its cycle. We were not disappointed!

Pesto Bread

Makes a 1.5 loaf

  • 1 1/4 cups water
  • 1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 2 tbsp pesto sauce
  • 4 cups bread flour
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 1/2 tsp bread machine or instant yeast
  1. Measure ingredients into baking pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Insert pan into the oven chamber.
  2. Select basic cycle.

Rosemary Tomato Bread

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A friend here in Point Hope lent me a book called 300 best Bread Machine recipes. Of the 300, I picked out about a dozen to try. The first was a honey wheat oat bread, and it was absolutely terrific. The evening it came out of the bread machine, Jack and I put our other dinner plans on hold and instead stuffed ourselves with warm slices of this bread slathered in butter and honey. After a few days, some breads crumble or dry too much. Not this one.  It was dense and flavorful and help up nicely.

The oat bread recipe was a safe pick. I knew how it was supposed to taste and look. Next it was time for a leap to the recipe that made me borrow the book in the first place – Rosemary Caesar Bread featuring tomato-vegetable juice, sun-dried tomatoes, and rosemary. The beautiful color and aroma of this bread makes it a centerpiece loaf.  Following is my adaptation of the recipe, including a name change. “Caesar” makes me think of anchovies (Caesar dressing), so I think “Rosemary Tomato Bread” is more accurate.

Rosemary Tomato Bread

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups tomato-vegetable juice
  • 1 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 1/2 cups bread flour
  • 1/3 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp dry rosemary
  • 1/4 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 1/4 tsp bread machine yeast

Measure ingredients into the baking pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select Basic cycle to bake.

Makes 1.5 lb loaf. This is an excellent bread to serve with breakfast eggs or for making egg salad sandwiches.

Alaska Silver Salmon Pizza

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Wild Alaskan Silver Salmon Pizza: The second of nine salmon recipes

With a fairly large tub of salmon fillets in the freezer and us on the downward slope of the school year, Barbra has challenged me to come up with nine new salmon recipes. The first creation was Salmon Burgers & Caesar Slaw. Here’s the second: Silver Salmon Pizza.

Put a pizza stone on the center rack of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.

Ingredients

  • pizza crust
  • tomato sauce (see recipe below)
  • shredded mozzarella
  • shredded cheddar (about 1/2 as much as the mozzarella)
  • Kalamata olives, cut in half lengthwise
  • 1/2 pound salmon, grilled or broiled and cut into smaller pieces
  • 2 strips thick bacon, cooked, drained and cut into small pieces
  • 1/3 cup sweet onion, chopped coarse
  • several cloves of garlic, chopped coarse
  • sun-dried tomatoes, chopped coarse
  • 1 sheet of nori (dried seaweed) cut into thin strips

The crust: We usually pre-bake our crusts for about 10 minutes and then freeze them. Later, we thaw the crusts and add the pizza toppings and bake for 8 to 12 minutes. The crust does not have to be completely thawed.

The sauce:

  • 6-ounce can of tomato paste
  • 1/2 tin of anchovies chopped fine (about 1 tablespoon)
  • generous amount of Italian herbs
  • garlic powder (or fresh garlic chopped fine and briefly sautéed)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • a few grinds of black pepper
  • approximately 3 ounces of water–you want the sauce to be thick

Mix these ingredients together with a wooden spoon in a glass bowl and let stand for at least 20 minutes.

The salmon: Grill or broil. I rubbed the salmon for this pizza with a fiery Southwestern rub from Penzeys. For best results, cut or pull apart the salmon with its natural grain.

Other toppings: heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Add the onions and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the olives, garlic and sun-dried tomatoes. Don’t overcook. Onions should be just translucent and still have some crunch.

Spread the tomato sauce on the pizza crust. Add the mozzarella. Add the cheddar. Spoon on the mixture of onion, garlic, olives and sun-dried tomatoes. Sprinkle on the bacon. Top with salmon.

Bake at 400 degrees for 8 to 12 minutes, until crust is golden brown on edges and underneath.

Sprinkle nori strips on the pizza after it is done baking. Set out a bottle of Cholula sauce on the table, and pour out glasses of a good amber ale!

Polar Numbing Stinging Cold

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It’s cold in Point Hope.

Better words for cold according to the thesaurus –Siberian, algid, arctic, below freezing, below zero, benumbing, biting, bitter, blasting, bleak, boreal, brisk, brumal, chill, chilled, cool, crisp, cutting, frigid, frore, frosty, frozen, gelid, glacial, having goose bumps, hawkish, hiemal, hyperborean, icebox, iced, icy, inclement,intense, keen, nipping, nippy, numbed, numbing, one-dog night, penetrating, piercing, polar, raw, rimy, severe, sharp, shivery, sleety, snappy, snowy, stinging, two-dog night, wintry

We were warned when we left Shishmaref – “It’s cold up there.” We thought a few degrees colder would not make too much of a difference. Hmmmm…. I’ve been comparing Shishmaref to Point Hope. It’s true, it is only a few degrees colder here. But this week the “real feel” temperatures have been hovering around minus 40! When the high says 4 degrees, it’s likely that we may hit the high at 3 o’clock in the morning, not mid-day as you might guess. The sun does peek over the horizon, but not enough to warm anything yet. So, we are relying on wind currents to bring us some warmer air flows.

Last year, Jack bought a wolf ruff for my parka. One of our Shishmaref friends finished it and attached it to my coat. It makes a huge difference in blocking the wind. I have polar fleece pants with a wind-blocker lining. I have thick neoprene “muck” boots. I often wear two hats–one with a face blocker. For me, all these are necessities, even for the relatively short walks to school, the post office, or to the store.  One of my students walked home from the school last Saturday without a hat and got frostbite on her ear!

I can feel every crack in my armor.  If my mitten exposes my wrist, it hurts. The slit between my hat and the face blocker stings with cold.

The words in the thesaurus don’t do justice to the cold up here.

Way-Better-Than-Pecan-Pie Bars

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When I was first introduced to pecan pie, I didn’t like it. I love sweets, but pecan pie was too gloppy. I was disappointed that it had more “goo” than pecans. The idea of pecan pie is a good one, but I’ve always thought it could be improved. Jack says I’ve just never had good pecan pie. I bet he’s right. 😉

Today, I found a blog that had a recipe which seem to do the trick. Amy at Elephant Eats took all the flavors of pecan pie (plus chocolate) and converted it to a cookie bar.

I did make a few changes. First of all, I halved the recipe. Although we have visitors to help us eat our confections, there is no need to have too many sweets around…they are too tempting. I also increased the pecans to avoid the disappointment of “too much goo and not enough pecans.” They came out terrific. And they are way better than pecan pie!

One last piece of advice – no matter how much your husband begs you, don’t cut into these bars until they are cool. They will fall apart!

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup softened unsalted butter
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup dark Caro syrup
  • 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 cups chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Grease bottom and sides of a 7 1/2″ x 11″ pyrex glass pan.

3. In bowl, mix flour, 1/4 cup of sugar, butter, and salt until it resembles coarse crumbs. Press into bottom of pan. Bake for 20 minutes.

4. In a pot, using low heat, stir corn syrup and chocolate until it’s melted and well blended. Remove from heat. Stir in the rest of the sugar, eggs, and vanilla until blended. Stir in pecans.

5. Pour filling over hot crust. Bake for 30 minutes or until firm around edges, but slightly soft in center. Cool on wire rack. Cut into bars.

Spicy Chicken Farfalle Soup

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A hot bowl of spicy chicken and bow tie soup is just the thing on a cold January day.

We’re both fans of Southwestern style rubs. Penzey Spices makes a good one, as does Dean & Deluca. I’m sure there are others. I whipped up this wonderfully spicy chicken noodle soup using leftover chicken thighs I’d rubbed and broiled for last night’s dinner. Vary your ingredients according to how much chicken you have on hand and what’s in your pantry. By the way, if you haven’t tried Better Than Bouillon brand, it really is–better than bouillon. Much better. In addition to plain chicken and beef, they make 42 other styles of soup base including a lobster base that is absolutely delicious.

Ingredients:

  • skinless, boneless chicken thighs rubbed with Southwestern-style seasoning and broiled
  • sweet onions, chopped coarse
  • carrots, chopped coarse
  • celery, chopped coarse
  • sweet corn
  • garlic, chopped coarse
  • Kalamata olives, chopped coarse
  • sun-dried tomatoes, chopped coarse
  • mushrooms, chopped coarse
  • fresh bow tie (or other) pasta
  • Cholula sauce
  • Better Than Bouillon, chicken flavor
  • olive oil
  • Italian herbs (fresh or dried)
  • smoked sea salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • (If I had fresh, hot red peppers, I would have used them)

1. Cut chicken into small pieces and set aside.

2. Place enough water in a pot to cover the ingredients. Add bouillon and bring to a boil.

3. Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add chopped vegetables, starting with the carrots and onions as they require more cooking time. Add Italian herbs and stir in well. After two or three minutes, add celery, olives, garlic and mushrooms. Cook until onions are just turning translucent and carrots and celery are just barely crunchy.

4. Add sautéed vegetables to boiling water. Add chicken, Cholula sauce to taste, a few grinds of pepper and the smoked sea salt.

5. Add fresh pasta and continue boiling till just done. (If using store-bought pasta, it is better to add it to the boiling water before adding the other ingredients to cook it to desired tenderness without overcooking the vegetables.)

6. Serve piping hot.

Arctic School Bus

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When I heard that Point Hope had a school bus, my first thought was that a bus seemed extravagant in a village that stretches barely over 1/2 mile  from tip to tip. Not only do we have a school bus, but it’s a shiny, brand-new school bus that just came off the barge this summer. Wow, I thought, our school district is rich!

Once winter set in, my perspective changed. These days, walking the scant 150 feet from the front door of our house to the school is no small enterprise. Bundled up from toe to nose and nearly getting blown off my feet by icy blasts of wind, I totally get the school bus. Within minutes, any skin exposed to this wind begins to hurt! Who would walk to school in those conditions? There are days I wish I could take the school bus.

Salmon Burgers with Caesar Slaw

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Fried mashed potatoes (made with golds, russets and purple Peruvian potatoes) accompanies a serving of Caesar slaw & salmon burger.

We’re about halfway through the school year. That means it’s time to assess where we are on groceries in order to tweak our list for next year. It also means our menus from here to the end of the year need to include food based on quantities and expiration dates. Recently I reorganized our freezers and was surprised (and pleased!) to see how much salmon we have left. Vacuum-sealed, it will keep through the summer and welcome us into the next school year. Even so, the abundance of salmon inspired us to find some new recipes to try with one of our favorite fish. Jack is famous for his “shio-yaki” style fish. This is fish broiled with a simple seasoning of salt and pepper–easy and one of the best ways to showcase the flavor of good fish. But I figured it was time we gave our culinary skills a stretch. So…

Salmon Burgers alone are not an earth-shattering idea, but serving the burgers atop a Caesar-syle slaw made for a truly noteworthy entrée. Enhanced by the color of the purple cabbage and of the salmon burgers themselves, every bite was wonderful–from the initial crunch to the flavor of the medley of salty anchovies, freshly cracked pepper, lemon, and dijon mustard.

To make the salmon burgers, start with 3/4 pound of salmon prepared shio-yaki style.

Shio-yaki salmon (shio = salt; yaki = broiled or char-broiled)

  • 3/4 lb fresh salmon fillet, skin on
  • sea salt & freshly cracked black pepper
  • olive oil

Place pan under broiler and preheat. Place salmon skin-side down on a cutting board and rub in sea salt and pepper. Let stand for a few minutes. When broiler pan is hot, spray or brush with olive oil and place salmon fillet skin-side down. Salmon should sizzle when it hits the pan. Cook approximately 10 minutes per inch, or until white fat can be seen coming out of the salmon. Avoid overcooking.

Salmon Burgers: (Makes 5 burgers)

  • 3/4 pound cooked or canned salmon, flaked. Include chopped skin, if desired. (See above for cooking suggestion)
  • freshly ground pepper to taste
  • sea salt (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
  • 2 cups Saltine cracker crumbs
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
  • egg whites from 2 eggs, lightly beaten

Place flaked salmon, ground pepper, salt, lemon juice, garlic, basil, tarragon, cracker crumbs, and egg whites in a glass mixing bowl. Mix together and make patties to the size desired. (Makes five nice-sized burgers.)

Add about three tablespoons of olive oil to a large skillet and heat on medium high. Cook the salmon burgers about 3 minutes on each side.

Caesar Slaw: (Makes enough slaw for 2+ servings)

  • 3 cups chopped purple cabbage
  • 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper (or more to taste)
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
  • 4 anchovies (about 3/4 tablespoon–about 1/2 of a tin) finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup olive oil

In a glass bowl, add pepper, garlic, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, anchovies, dijon mustard and olive oil. Mix together using a whisk or spoon. Add the cabbage and mix thoroughly, until all is coated.

Place a serving of Caesar slaw on a plate, then the salmon burger atop the slaw. Try it with a favorite lager!

Stay tuned for our next salmon adventures. Yum!