At Shop Rite in Stamford, CT. I came across Dafruta Passion Fruit liquid concentrate- This is a brazilian product imported by liberty imports in Allentown, PA. Wegmans markets carries this as well as Hannafords in NY, MA and ME. I’m sure there are other passion fruit concentrates, but you must be sure that it contains NO sugar. You wouldn’t buy lemon juice that was presweetened, right? I mean, that’s Lemonade. OK, OK- on with it, right.

First things first- We need a fruit glaze for this cake, some to add to the frosting that will be used between the cake layers and some to top the cake with after frosting. A basic fruit glaze will call for too much of a sugar to fruit juice ratio so be sure to follow it the way I’ve outlined below.

1/2 C Sugar
2 TB Corn Starch
1 C Passion Fruit concentrate + 1/4 – 1/2 cup of water
2 Heaping TB of Strawberry Jelly (jam- no chunks) (we’re looking for a little glucose/corn syrup to disrupt the sugar recrystallization)

Begin with a 1/2 cup of the juice concentrate + 1/4 cup of water and add the sugar to it. Heat over medium heat stirring occasionally until it boils. While you’re heating the sugar and juice, add the corn starch to the remaining 1/2c of juice and 1/4c water and mix. Once the sugar syrup is boiling, add the corn starch mixture to the syrup and heat again until thickened and just before boiling. Finally, add the 2 Tablespoons of strawberry jelly and blend until smooth over medium to medium low heat and then remove from heat. it should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and should taste sweet, but tart.

Now for the frosting- I used a traditional buttercream frosting-
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 (1-pound) box confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Blend the butter and Cream Cheese, then slowly add the confectioners sugar (slowly or you’ll discover why I suggest “slowly”) I usually stop the mixer, add a cup or so, then mix again until it’s combined, repeat until you’re done with the sugar. Finally- slowly add 1/2 pint of heavy cream to lighten up the density of the frosting.

Chill all of this.

On to the cakes- I used Arrowhead Mills Organic Vanilla cake mix, because it’s what I had available though I would have been fine with a plain yellow or white as well. I adjusted the recipe in a few ways- first, I added an extra egg, but combined the eggs in a different way too. take the whites of 2 eggs and add the remaining 3 yolks and 1 white to the oil and milk for the cake mixture and combine them. Meanwhile, take the 2 whites that you reserved and whip them to medium stiff peaks. once the batter has been mixed fold half of the batter into the egg whites, then fold in the rest, take care not to combine so much that you take the air out. Continue with the recipe the way the box suggests. I put a round cut piece of parchment in the bottom of both pans- it’s easier to remove the cakes later.

Let your cakes cool-

Now when you’re ready to frost- Begin by putting a coating of the glaze on your bottom layer and delicately brush it in- alternately you could also just brush a bit of the concentrate onto the cake top and it will soak right in. Then mix a little glaze into a small amount of frosting for your first layer top coating so you have a nice fruity middle frosting. Do a crumb layer followed by finishing up the rest of the cake. I made a top trim edge to keep the glaze from running down the sides of the cake (also so I could add a bit more glaze). Let your cake chill for at least an hour, uncovered. If you want to chill it overnight I would cover it.

Enjoy!

Poppy’s Banana Bread:

Turn Oven on to 325º and Grease and flour a bread pan.

COMBINE:

3 ripe Bananas
2 eggs
1 Cup of Sugar (or 1/2 C with a half C of any fruit Preserves you like- I just did Lemon Strawberry- OMG)
1/4 C Veggie Oil (Canola, not Olive)
1/3 C Buttermilk (I frequently substitute Soy milk + zest and 1 lemon’s juice- now that’s a standard)
1 Lemon’s zest and juice
1 tsp Vanilla

COMBINE:

1-3/4 C Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt

Combine wet and dry ingredients and bake for 1 hour and 20 mins or until it’s no longer soft in the middle. Minimum 1 hour 20 mins.

Let cool for at least a half hour- I know I know.

Photographer Jake Ennis' Comment on the BP oil spill crisis

“I made this picture as a metaphor as part of an assignment. I want this picture to talk to the World about the great oil spill caused by BP in the Gulf of Mexico. I wanted the glass to be the ocean, my sister is behind it so they would know that it meant life. Small people will not be able to play on the beach and I think this is a metaphor for greed. BP just wanted more oil for money and they were greedy. I don’t think that they meant for it to happen. It was probably a Friday evening job on the pipe. They didn’t care enough for the environment. The picture is to say if you think that you are not directly affected, then think again, because there is about 800,000 litres of oil coming out a day, this will affect your children’s, children’s children. Would you like it if this were your drop of the ocean?”

Chocolate (I like as high cocoa content as possible- go for 85% or higher- if you want your chocolate a bit sweeter, add a little sugar- just a little.
Eggs (Local fresh eggs are key here- go to a farmers market or buy the “local” ones in your grocery store)
Heavy Whipping Cream.

That’s it! That’s all that is required! Now, on to my own recipe- it’s so basic, it’s probably what most chef’s would do because it sort of makes sense. One thing I want to stress from the beginning is that I believe a good chocolate mousse should not be sweet, and it’s very easy for that to happen. You may look at this recipe and think, it should have sugar in it- but don’t cave- leave it out. Sweeten some whipped cream if you want a little more sweetness, you’ll be amazed how the natural sweetness of cream comes through in this dessert.

This recipe will serve 10-15 people, depending on how addicted they are to Chocolate- I think I was able to serve about 15+ with this.

Alright. Here we go.
Tools: You’ll want a nice balloon whip (whisk) for the egg whites and a hand mixer for the cream. 2 large mixing bowls and a large pyrex bowl and a 3-4 quart saucepan (unless you have a double boiler) and an instant read thermometer- though it’s not essential, it’s nice to have- you should have one anyway.

6 oz. plus 2 oz. (that’s a half lb. total) of chocolate-I take a bread knife and break it up- if you get a thicker block of bulk chocolate it’s easier to cut, like it was cheese. just slowly push your way through and it will crumble.
8 oz. Mascarpone cheese
1/2 pint of heavy whipping cream
6 large or jumbo local eggs-whites and yolks, separated. (if all you can find are medium local eggs- just add 1-2 more than what I call for.

Combine your Egg Yolks with a whisk and set aside.

Now put about 1-2 inches of water in the bottom of the saucepan and heat it over a medium low temp- you want it to simmer- place the pyrex bowl on top and put 6 oz. of the chocolate in the bowl and stir it with a silicone scraper until it is melted and set it aside, off the saucepan. it will need about 10 minutes to cool, so get whipping.

Now whip your creams together until they form stiff peaks and whip your egg whites until they also form fairly stiff peaks. ( this is a good two person job- share the effort)

At this point- your chocolate should be cool enough to work with, about 110º-120º, give it a quick mixing before the next step, tempering your eggs. Have someone mixing the egg yolks with a small whisk while you pour a small amount of chocolate into the eggs, until the eggs resemble brownie batter at which point you can add the egg mixture into the chocolate bowl and combine well with the silicone scraper (spatula). Add half your whipped cream mixture and stir until combined (You can add an ounce or two of sherry or port, or brandy or other flavored liquor if you like, before moving on) and then add half the egg whites and mix just until combined- Now add the extra 2 oz. of well chopped chocolate which will provide you with a bit of texture to the final product. Finish up by folding in the remaining cream and then the remaining egg whites, being careful to not mix too much- it’s ok if it doesn’t look perfectly combined- you want to keep as much air in this as possible. Refrigerate, covered for a few hours or overnight.

Serve with whipped cream and or fresh berries.

We started out with a Lomi Lomi Salmon- normally a salted salmon, green onion, tomato mixture that looks like a salsa but is kind of like fresh lox. This is a traditional Hawaiian dish. I don’t know it’s origins, since we don’t have salmon in Hawaii. My guess would be that salmon was salted for transport to the islands from Washington or Alaska and then the locals tore it up and mixed it with onion. I’m sure tomato came later.

My take was to add Blood Orange and put a ring of reduced Pomegranate around the dish for a sweet tart flavor. It was delicious. This dish takes 2 days to make, but only about an hour or so of actual work.

Recipe:

1.5 lbs Salmon Filet
1/2 cup of kosher salt
1 bunch of Green Onions
1 small Ugli or Beefsteak tomato
1-2 Blood Oranges
1-2 tsp sesame oil
1 bottle of POM pomegranate juice

Start out with 1.5 lbs of salmon filet- as low fat as possible (smaller white lines) and try to avoid the thinner belly portion which tends to be more fatty and therefore more fishy- also have your fish monger skin it for you since he’s got the bigger knives and plays with fish all day, it’ll take him 2 seconds to do. Cut the salmon filet in half down the center and then cut each narrow strip in half lengthwise so you have 4 “logs” of salmon. Liberally salt (it should be covered with salt) both sides of the salmon and place it in a covered dish and refrigerate overnight. The next day, you’ll have a lot of liquid in the dish which you can drain off- this is the liquid the salt has removed from the fish. You’ll notice that it’s gotten quite firm as well. Now soak the fish in a bowl of fresh cold water for an hour or so and then remove a piece and cut a few thin slices off of it and taste one of the inside slices to check for saltyness- too salty, change the water and repeat.

Now prep your other ingredients- you can dice everything if you like.

I like to slice some of the onions  down the middle, and leave some whole- removing the top greens and the root tip, slice the onions into 1/8 thick pieces. You’ll have a mixture of nice round slices and smaller stringy slices, set aside.

Cut the tomato into quarters and remove the seeds (the more watery parts) as much as you can and cut it into 1/2 inch dice

With the blood orange, you want to cut the peel off so the flesh is exposed and then slice it into 1/4 inch dice.

Once your fish is ready, you want to trim off any of the dark meat areas and make sure you have no skin or fat on the skin side. then slice the fish into fairly thin slices in batches, followed by cross cutting it so that you have small pieces similar to the size of your orange pieces, I usually just cut across the slices so I have tiny strips of fish. The traditional hawaiian way is to tear the fish into small pieces and you can do it that way too if you want, but I think it’s more work- try it any way. Combine all of these ingredients and the sesame oil. Refrigerate for a few hours.

While you’re waiting for your lomi lomi to settle in- take your bottle of pomegranate juice and simmer it over medium to low heat until you have about 2 ounces left- it should be pretty thick, like maple syrup. If you want- you can serve this with crackers and therefore omit the sauce, though it is a nice touch.

Enjoy!

So I have one cup of horrible smelling raisin buttermilk juice and to it, I add one cup of bread flour. Set that aside in a glass container with plastic wrap loosely covering it and leave it for a day. If you want, you can add some yeast to it to ensure you successfully achieve the act of creating “life” in a jar, or take your chances and see what kind of yeast you’re living with!

(If you choose cider, try to get an organic or natural- stay away from Potassium Sorbate or other preservatives, as it can kill your yeast enterprise. Harpoon is all natural, Sammy Smiths and maybe you’ve got a local cider? I think Harpoon is the cheapest best tasting Cider on the market.)

So after 24 hours of sitting out on your kitchen counter, you should notice some activity- a little or a lot of bubbling is evidence of your success. No bubbles, means, dump it and start over, and if you didn’t add yeast, try doing it on your second batch (1/4 tsp will do). Toss the “bitch” (Bourdains affectionate name for bread starters) in the fridge with a loose cover so it can breath- I use loose plastic wrap on a 1 quart jar (like a ball or old spaghetti sauce jar) and just place the jar lid on top. Now, you can let that funk sit in your fridge for a week and then add an extra cup of flour and of water to it to “feed the bitch” (Bourdain, again). If you want to use starter right after you make it and skip that last step, initially- just use 2 cups of funk water and 2 cups of flour to start your bitch. Now, here’s the irony in Bourdain’s name calling- you, the owner of said starter are now responsible for feeding this baby once a week, empty half of the starter from the jar (stir in the hooch first- that’s a low alcohol liquid produced by your yeast, and another sign that things are working, it also adds to the sourness, and is harmless) and use that approx. 1 cup of starter for making bread, adding a cup of warm water and flour back to the jar and stirring it in. Now you don’t have to make bread with this every week, but you do have to maintain it. So you can empty half the jar into the trash or use it, but don’t dump it down your drain or disposal because it WILL muck up your plumbing. By feeding it, now you’re the bitch (ha!), you’re providing the yeast with fresh flour to consume along with a drink of water. *a note on water- what you put in is what you get out, so use bottled or filtered, that’s the secret to your local pizzeria, italian, or french restaurants amazing breads.

Now all you have to do is add a cup of warm water to your cup or so of starter, 2-3 tsp of salt (very important, don’t forget it) and 3-1/2 to 4 cups of flour. This last part is a judgement call- you want your mixture to come back to form somewhat and that’s how you know you’ve added enough flour. The dryer or wetter your starter is will affect the amount of flour you’ll need. Wet dough is OK, but too wet and it may not rise enough and it will be hell to deal with once it rises, like dealing with a bowl of old elmers glue (it just happened to me). So just make sure you add enough to ensure your dough holds it’s shape and then put it somewhere kind of warm for 24 hours (maybe less, but not likely). It should, in this time, double in volume and have some bubbles on the top. From there you scoop it out onto a floured surface, sprinkle some flour on top as well and fold it a few times gently and shape it into a ball (it will probably be quite loose- and that’s ok). Place it on a floured cloth (I add oat bran or wheat bran to the cloth as well to absorb some moisture and keep it from sticking) and cover it with a cloth. Let it rise again- 4-8 hours or so and then gently flop it into a preheated (450º) Creuset or stoneware covered casserole and bake it for 30 minutes covered, remove the lid and let it bake another 15 minutes until it’s brown. Remove it from the pot and set it on a folded kitchen towel or better yet, a cooling rack for at least a half hour. If you listen carefully, you can hear it crackle as it cools…

Here’s what I did…

+/- 3C Bread Flour (Must be Bread Flour)
1-1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dry yeast
1-1/3 C cool water (55º-65ºf) Winter tap is prob. 45º (I used cider that was semi-hardened in the fridge- don’t use anything that has potassium sorbate or you’ll kill the yeast.) I also nuked it for 45 seconds to warm it a bit.

Whole wheat bran, flour or something else for dusting.

1/4 lb or less of small slices of parmesan Cheese
1 head of roasted garlic- this I cheated on and bought from Wegmans olive bar- if you need to rast it yourself- peel all the cloves from a head of garlic and roast them in the oven at around 300º after tossing them in a bit of olive oil, enough to coat them. DO NOT LET THEM GET DARK!

Mix water with yeast, stir, add salt, add flour, it should be fairly wet so i mixes well, but not so it puddles or smears in the bowl…(mix it quickly with a wooden spoon in a ceramic, glass or plastic bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and forget it for a day and a half or more- (start it at night, say 10pm- then the next evening, you’re ready for stage 2)

Turn out onto a floured surface and quickly fold 1-2 times- adding the cheese and garlic on one side, then fold and add more on the remaining half and fold and immediately shape into a ball. Place it on a liberally dusted kitchen towel (NOT TERRY) with the seam side down, like linen or smooth cotton. COver ball with more bran dust or whatever you choose and cover with another towel. Let sit to rise again for 2-4 hrs.
1/2 hr before the bread is ready to bake- preheat oven and a cast iron covered dutch oven or ceramic casserole with lid to 475º. Carefully and quickly flop the dough into the cast iron pot, shake it a bit to settle it and cover, bake for 1/2 hr. uncover and go another 5-15 mins based on color. Let cool for 1/2 hr. (This is a must). Enjoy!