Upside Down Apricot Cake--An Easy Version of the Old Favorite

Mid-July was the start of the season when my grandmother was making her wonderful milk and yeast cakes with fruits. Those cakes were quite labor intensive--the dough had to be kneaded and then left to rise for some time, until almost it doubled its volume. But later, when the cake was baked, its flavor filled the kitchen with the most amazing and addicting aroma that any cake can produce.

I already mentioned once before that I had never been able to attain my grandma's perfection in that matter, and I feel more comfortable making a complicated dessert than that easy cake, which is so basic in Polish cuisine.

It is said that the more skimpy this cake was on the ingredients' side(less sugar, butter, and eggs), the better it was. And my grandma's cake was tall, fluffy, and delicious. At the beginning of the season, she made it with sour cherries (I think available mostly in Europe if not only in Eastern Europe). Later she used black currants, plums, and--at the very end--apples in the fall.

As I read recently a lot about French cuisine and went through many French culinary magazines, I discovered a type of cake that I was not familiar with, but could substitute for the one that my grandma made. It also is made with yeast and only a tiny amount of milk, but it is made rather as a sponge cake than a traditional yeast cake that I know. This means that it is faster to make. I have been experimenting with many version of that idea and today's recipe is a result of that.

The cake turned out to be fantastic and disappeared in half an hour still warm. Even kids that had a play date at our place enjoyed it very much. And although from the picture this cake may seem kind of heavy it was surprisingly light and delicate. I made it with apricots, instead of making a tart of them, but I am sure it can be delicious also, for example, with plums or apples.

Upside Down Apricot Cake
(For a 9-inch baking pan)

Ingredients:
9-10 soft apricots,
1 and 3/4 unsalted, soft butter stick,
1 packed cup of brown sugar (about 180 g) plus extra 3 tbsp,
1 and 1/3 cup all purpose flour( 150 g),
1/3 cup ground almonds (50 g),
1 tsp dried yeasts,
3 eggs,
2 tbsp milk,
a pinch of salt.

Preparation:
1. Grease the bottom of the baking pan with butter.
2. Cut out from wax paper a 9-inch circle (22 centimeters) and place it at the bottom of the baking pan. Sprinkle with 3 tbsp of brown sugar.
3. Cut apricots in halves, remove pits, and place them skin up on the wax paper (sprinkled with sugar).
4. Preheat oven to 300 F (150C)
5. Put soft butter in a stand-up mixer. Add sugar and run mixer for about 3 minutes, until the two ingredients turn into a smooth batter.
6. Separate the eggs. Add yolks to the butter and run mixer for about 2 minutes. Place whites with a pinch of salt in a medium bowl an beat until stiff.
7. In a medium bowl sift in flour, add almonds and dry yeasts. Add all the dried ingredients to the mixer bowl and run it until everything is incorporated. At the very end add two tbsp of milk and again mix it in well.
8. Fold in whipped whites into the batter.
9. Spread the batter over the apricots and bake in oven for 45 minutes.

10. Cool down the cake, turn it upside down on the serving plate, and gently remove the wax paper.

Cut and serve with a dollop of crème fraîche on top.

Stuffed Zucchini--French Way

The French love zucchini. We all know this by now, if not from a personal culinary experience, then from the movie "Ratatouille". And zucchini is one ratatouille's main ingredients. More than that though, when I lived in Geneva I ate flans, quiches, pastas, and pizzas made with zucchini of different shapes and colors.

The most amazing zucchini dish I ever ate were stuffed zucchini flowers, which I ate in restaurant in Geneva. I would like to repeat one day, the problem is though that they were stuffed with something extremely delicate that I was not able to identify.

My second favorite zucchini dish are stuffed zucchinis themselves. My mother was making a similar dish years ago, when I was a child. She was stuffing with ground meat a gigantic squash-like vegetable, something in between a zucchini and a pumpkin, weighing about four to five pounds each. Then the whole vegetable was baked in an oven and served with a tomato salad or green lettuce with mustard dressing. This zucchini-pumpkin vegetable (which I have not found outside Poland so far) was available only during two summer months.

The other day when I was flipping through a French magazine I stumbled on a recipe for stuffed zucchini which reminded me this favorite dish from my childhood. I decided to try it, as zucchinis are definitely at their peak, not only in France but in here as well. I got some local specimens, very fresh and green, stuffed them with mixed meats, and served them with a fresh baguette.

Stuffed Zucchini
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
8 medium zucchini (or two per person),
1/2 lb ground meat (1/4 lb beef and 1/4 lb pork or lamb)-beef itself is a little bit too dense,
2 garlic cloves, minced,
1 egg,
2 tbsp shredded Parmesan,
2 tbsp chopped parsley,
1 glass white wine,
1 cup of beef or vegetable stock,
3 tbsp tomato purée,
all purpose flour,
olive oil for frying,
1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper.

Preparation:
1. Cut out and discard both ends of the zucchinis. Depending on their length cut the zucchinis in two or three cylinders.
2. Using a small spoon or a grapefruit knife cut out the insides of the zucchinis leaving about a quarter of an inch of flesh inside. Save half of the flesh that you scooped out and chop it finely.

3. In a medium bowl mix both meats, chopped zucchini flesh, garlic, egg, Parmesan, one tbsp chopped parsley, salt, and pepper. Mix well until all the ingredients make a smooth stuffing.

4. Stuff zucchini cylinders, pushing meat tightly inside (it will shrink during cooking a little bit anyway).

5. Roll each piece in flour and put aside.
6. Heat 4 tbsp olive oil in a large casserole. Fry zucchinis until gold all over.
7. In a small bowl mix wine, tomato purée, and vegetable stock. Add this mix to the pan, cover the pan and let it simmer for about 30-40 minutes, depending on how big your pieces are.
8. Sprinkle with remaining parsley leaves, and serve with white bread and red wine.

Frozen Halva Pie--Easy and Delicious Summer Dessert

Once in a while I crave for halva. I buy then a big box of it in my Middle Eastern grocery store imagining myself eating it whole. But those who like halva, also know that a small piece of it goes a long way. Although delicious, halva--as many Middle Easter desserts--is also so sweet that a couple of bites can quickly satisfy the most unsatisfiable craving.

I usually buy Greek or Turkish halva, which is very finely grind, and turns in mouth into a sandy paste. My favorite is the plain vanilla, sesame seeds halva. I eat it until I feel totally "sweetened". Later, when I am very full, a two-pound box rests in my refrigerator for months, or until my mother, who is a big halva lover, visits and in a couple of weeks finishes that box for me.

A few years ago I found in Gourmet magazine a recipe for a cake using halva. It sounded perfect for halva leftovers that I had in the back of my refrigerator. I experimented with that recipe and prepared for my summer dinner party. All the guests loved it and could not really guess what I served--a frozen cake or ice cream cake? So I would rather call it a dessert than a pie. The fact that I served it after an outdoors dinner on a hot and humid summer evening made it even more perfect.

I made some changes to the original recipe and replaced sugar with honey, which is healthier and gives it a more interesting taste. I also like it more textured, so I did not dissolve halva completely, and added hot milk instead of boiling milk. And the last nice thing about this dessert is that it can be made ahead and kept in a freezer for about two weeks.

Frozen Halva Pie
(For a 9-inch pie plate)

Ingredients:
Nine graham crackers, makes 2 cups of crushed,
5 tbsp unsalted butter (about 70g),
1/3 cup honey,
2/3 cup milk,
1/2 tsp vanilla,
1 cup crumbled, vanilla halva,
1 cup chilled heavy whipping cream,
1/2 cup shelled toasted pistachios.

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Using food processor grind finely crackers. If you do not have a food processor, place crackers in a large plastic zip bag and using rolling pin crush them until they resemble bread crumbs.
3. Melt butter, add to the crackers, and mix well. You can do that in the food processor and run motor for one minute or mix in a bowl, using spoon.
4. Press the crumb mixture onto the bottom and the sides of a 9-inch pie oven dish--I use a flat bottom measuring cup or a small ramekin to press the crackers mixture.
5. Bake for 6-8 minutes, until the crust is darker. Cool down completely.
6. In a medium saucepan warm up milk until almost boiling. Add honey and remove from the heat and let it cool for about 5 minutes.
7. Add crumbled halva and vanilla essence to the milk. Mix until halva almost dissolves. Let the mixture cool completely.
8. In a medium bowl beat cream until stiff. Fold whipped cream into halva mixture and pour over cold crackers crust. Freeze uncovered for an hour.
9. Remove the pie from the freezer, sprinkle pistachios on top, and freeze again for 4 hours minimum.

Before serving let it stand at the room temperature for about 15 minutes, then cut and serve.