{He Said} Grandpa

Growing up we were often out with my Grandpa helping him fix fence or various other projects.  It was where I learned how to use the term "gaish blast" to the full effect.  

My Grandpa Moulton and his draft horse

If you happened to be there for breakfast sourdough was usually on the menu in some form.

Three years ago when Katie and I went back for his funeral we all gathered together and had sourdough pancakes.  It was here that we came to love buttermilk syrup and shortly after we got back to Denver we had our own little sourdough start to feed.

Throughout its life it gave us wonderful memories.  The move to Portland, no problem.  Me turning on the oven while it was in there fermenting, BIG problem.  Needless to say for the past couple of months we have been missing sourdough pancakes when we come home from fast Sunday.  It was always so nice to have a quick meal of carbohydrate goodness.

Well, I attempted another start today so maybe next week we can bask in homemade goodness again.

Wish us luck!

{He said} Clammin'

After living in Maine I learned how to properly pronounce words that I had unknowingly been pronouncing wrong my entire life.  For those of you who may not understand a picture is worth a thousand words.

If you need further instruction in the Maine-iac (or Maine-ard when being mean) dialect the concept is this, if there is an "a" sound at the end of the word you change it to "er".  When there is an "er" sound you change it to "ah" and you can do whatever you want in the middle.

Besides learning the dialect I also learned about clam chowdah, the canned stuff has never been good enough since.  In fact I have never had better since then.

Until now.

Katie learned about the event of Razor clams and decided that before we leave Oregon we needed to experience it.  We booked a hotel and went out to Long Beach, Washington for the weekend.

We stopped by the local hardware store for our "Clam Gun"

This sounds big and bad but it is also more work than I thought it would be.  With these PVC tubes you scoop sand up that hopefully has a clam it.

We were not having much luck until Katie hit up the locals for tips.  After that we struck pay dirt.

We also found some crustaceans that we were not expecting.  My favorite part of the adventure may or may not have been when Katie jumped and squealed at this "clam".

Along with the local wildlife we experienced an unbelievable sunset.

I did my civic duty and returned the crab to the ocean so the sea gulls didn't get her.

I also learned that fresh clams (and my wife) make the best chowdah evah.

Temptation on a plate

Recipe and image courtesy of www.oprah.com

Every so often I come across an image that wedges itself firmly in my "things to bake" queue. This lovely confection is working its way higher and higher up the ladder...

Gina DePalma's Toasted Almond Cake with Mascarpone Cream and Amarena Cherries

Servings: Serves 12–16

Ingredients

Cake:

• 2 cups almond flour
• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (not self-rising)
• 1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 can or tube (7 to 8 ounces) almond paste , cut into small chunks
• 24 Tbsp. (3 sticks) unsalted butter , at room temperature
• 6 large eggs , at room temperature
• 1 cup whole milk , at room temperature
• 1 Tbsp. Amaretto liqueur
• Finely grated lemon zest (from 1 lemon, about 2 tsp.)
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract 

Mascarpone and Amarena cherry filling:

• 1 1/2 cups mascarpone
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 vanilla bean , split and seeds scraped
• 2 Tbsp. kirsch or grappa
• 1 cup amarena cherries in syrup, well drained and coarsely chopped
• 3/4 cup cherry jam

Buttercream:

• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large egg whites , at room temperature
• 24 Tbsp. (3 sticks) unsalted butter , at room temperature
• 4 tsp. vanilla extract 

Directions

Note: Amarena cherries are a sweet-sour varietal from Northern Italy. DePalma uses Agrimontana's and also recommends those from Fabbri, available at Amazon.com. Almond flour is available on Amazon.com and at specialty grocers. This recipe is for a classic, one-tiered layer cake.

To make cake: Adjust 2 oven racks to divide oven into thirds. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease 3 (9" x 2") round cake pans. Line bottoms with parchment paper; grease paper and dust pans with flour, tapping out excess. Spread almond flour on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until toasted, stirring once, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool.

In a large bowl, whisk together almond flour, all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda; set aside. Combine sugar and almond paste in a food processor and blend until almond paste is finely ground, with the texture of fine sand.

In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, combine almond paste mixture and butter. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs one at a time until well blended. With mixer on low speed, beat in milk, Amaretto, lemon zest, and vanilla until well blended. Beat in flour mixture, scraping bowl. Beat on medium speed until well blended, about 30 seconds. Divide batter among prepared pans and spread evenly. Stagger pans on 2 racks in oven so pans are not directly above one another. Bake 30 to 40 minutes, rotating pans halfway through, or until a toothpick inserted in center of cakes comes out clean. Let cool in pans 10 minutes. Run a knife around sides of pans and turn cakes out onto wire racks. Remove parchment paper and flip again; cool completely.

To make filling: In a stand mixer with whisk attachment, combine mascarpone, heavy cream, sugar, vanilla bean seeds, and 1 tablespoon kirsch or grappa. With mixer on low speed at first and increasing to medium, beat just until firm peaks form; do not over beat. Fold in cherries. Refrigerate 30 minutes. In a bowl, stir together cherry jam and remaining 1 tablespoon kirsch or grappa.

To make buttercream icing: Combine sugar and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Boil without stirring until syrup reaches 240° on a digital thermometer, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a stand mixer with whisk attachment, beat egg whites on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. With mixer on medium speed, gradually pour in hot syrup in a thin stream; avoid pouring syrup on whisk. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until stiff peaks form and mixture is cool, about 8 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and add butter 1 tablespoon at a time, beating after each addition. (If at any time buttercream appears curdled, beat on high until smooth, then reduce speed to medium and continue beating in butter.) Once all butter is added, beat on high speed until buttercream is smooth and fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in vanilla.

To assemble cake: Spread 1 side of 2 of the cake layers with jam and let stand 10 minutes, so cakes absorb some of jam. Place 1 cake layer, jam-side up on cake stand or plate. Spread with half of mascarpone filling. Top with second cake layer, jam-side up. Spread with remaining filling. Top with third cake layer, top-side up. Frost cake with about 1 cup buttercream to crumb coat cake; refrigerate 1 hour. Frost cake with remaining buttercream. Serve immediately or refrigerate; if refrigerated, let stand at room temperature 1 hour before serving.