Easter Spitzad

Originally posted in 2017. Reposting as it is that time of year again—springtime is Spitzad time! This year (2024) my cousin and i are debating the merits of using chickory vs the traditional dandelion greens. 

My cousin and I go back and forth, texting each other photos of the most-delicious thing we've created recently. And since it's Easter, he's reminding me to make a family favorite, "Spitzad". He's also making a traditional "wheat pie," but that wasn't something my grandfather was known for making--he was more well known for his rice pie. Spitzad is something my grandfather's mother would make.

Apparently, my great-grandmother would use dandelion greens in it in lieu of parsley; and my permutation on this is to use mint, as I think it pairs nicely with the lamb and the lemon juice.

A fine recipe that was my jumping off point was this recipe for Agnello Brodettato.

Here is my version:

Ingredients

1 lb lamb shoulder, trimmed and cut into cubes

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 oz Bacon, prosciutto or pancetta, chopped

2 T Olive oil

Flour for dredging

(About) 1/4 Cup Dry Vermouth

Salt and pepper

Optional: 2 T garlic paste (for marinating)

For the egg and lemon finish:

2 whole eggs

Juice of one freshly squeezed lemon (I even used the zest of the lemon, too)

12 nice sized, fresh mint leaves, shredded

Procedure:

1. Marinate lamb cubes overnight in garlic paste.

2. Dredge cubes in flour, set aside.

3. Render out bacon in 1 T olive oil and about 1/4 cup water. Add onions, sweat them and let them cook until golden, then set aside.

4. Add 1 T olive oil to pan and start to brown lamb cubes. Once they are nicely browned, add onion mixture back to pot, then deglaze pot with vermouth, stirring up brown bits stuck to bottom of pot.

5. Add about 1 cup of water and put in a 300 degree oven (*covered*) for 2 hours -OR- cook in electric pressure cooker on high pressure for 25 minutes (letting the pot depressurize on its own).

6. Once lamb is thoroughly cooked, scramble eggs with the lemon juice, then slowly drizzle a little bit at a time, stirring constantly to keep eggs from setting, continue this process until all the egg mixture is incorporated--this helps fortify and thicken the gravy.

7. Add the mint leaves.

8. Taste. Adjust salt, and apply black pepper liberally, a nice fat pinch or a dozen twists on the pepper grinder should do it.

Almost Forgot To Share

Above: 100% hydration foccaccia experiment, cross section of the crumb. 

Yet another iteration of Dorie Greenspan’s Last of the Bunch banana bundt.

Recently I have been on a Chicken Scarpariello bender. I love the dish & have been tinkering with the best technique to improve texture of chicken without cooking the peppers into mushy oblivion. 

 Pictured above: I invited my neighbor over for coffee & conversation “like civilized people.” I don’t do anything half-assed. I don’t make anything from scratch, everything was store bought, I just set the table and assembled a lovely continental breakfast brunch thing. 

2023 My TEN POUND Birthday Cake

Not to go negative right in the first paragraph, but my birthday was not always an enjoyable day. 

First, it's in the middle of August, and usually the day is rainy or it's so hot and humid and miserable you'd wish it would rain to break the heat.

Then there's the matter of my mother. I could go off on a tangent about the different ways she'd sabotage the day; however, I'll keep on topic and comment on cakes. She'd always ask what I'd want to eat for dinner, and what type of cake I'd want. And when the day would come, she just wouldn't follow through. For days or weeks I'd daydream about the dinner & the cake, and just be let down. 

Mom died of COVID19 in May 2020, so this was the fourth birthday without her here; however, it's the 22nd birthday since I decided not to let her ruin my day. And this is the first birthday since she died where I actually daydreamed about my birthday cake.

For weeks, I daydreamed about the cake layers, then the middle layer, which buttercream to use, how I'd decorate it etc, savoring each concept.

I bought baking strips to wrap around the cake pans so the cake layers would bake evenly. I even bought modeling chocolate, thinking I'd make 3D roses (in the end I didn't make them), and I had my eye on a set of Russian piping tips to make buttercream roses. When I was at Sur La Table, I snapped up a set as an impulse buy (never made the roses--I'm behind the learning curve! I can't wait to master the flowers later).

It took several days to execute this cake.

The cake layers were a regular ol' yellow box mix tricked out with ghee in lieu of oil and buttermilk in lieu of water, and I added 2 T of instant coffee powder. I poured into two cake pans and baked according to the box instructions. When cooled, I poked the surface of both layers, and soaked the cakes with Galliano Ristretto, then wrapped and put in freezer, to await their destiny.

Day two involved baking the second layer, which was Rose Levy Beranbaum's Chocolate Oblivion Torte, which is a flourless chocolate torte. It has 3 ingredients, and bakes up into a dense decadent delicious treat. (As delicious as it was, in the final analysis it was too dense for a middle layer, and if I were to do up this cake again, the middle layer will just be the chocolate mousse from Paris Confidential: Top-Secret Chocolate Mousse Revealed on NPR, I've made it before, it's perfect each time, and super simple.)

Day three involved assembly. First, I tricked out a can of ready made vanilla frosting with a can of dulce de leche, which made a faux Russian buttercream with a caramel flavor. That went between the layers, and the crumb coat. The final layer was a dark chocolate frosting.

Initially, I was going to stencil cocoa on top; and somehow I failed that in execution, so I dusted off the cocoa, and just kept moving to the next elements. 

Then I tried the Russian piping tips, and my flowers just came out like blobby turds of frosting. I'm not sure if I should have stiffened the frosting up w/additional confectioners sugar or put it in the fridge to firm up more, but I didn't have the luxury of time to figure it out, so I just smoothed the frosting, put on some wafer rose decorations I had on hand, and festooned it with an assortment of Crunchy Pearls by Valhrona. 

In the end it isn't decorated the way I envisioned; however, in the ways that matter (the cake, the filling, the buttercreams), the cake was exactly as I envisioned it to be.

Maharajah helped ferry the cake to my office fridge the night before I would be back in the office. I asked him how heavy did he think it was. He estimated 2 pounds, and I scoffed and said, "There's an entire pound of chocolate and a half pound of butter in the middle!" Before we dug into the cake, I put it on the postal scale, and it weighed in at a hefty TEN POUNDS!

The day was lovely with kindnesses from work friends, and we sat outside and shared lunch. It was a good day.

Most Recent Masterpiece

In June, a dear friend from work left for a new job, and to celebrate that, I baked a cake for him.

The cake itself was just a plain ol' yellow box mix which I tricked out thusly: In lieu of oil, I used ghee, and in lieu of water, I used buttermilk.

Additionally, I was going for a Good Humor strawberry shortcake kind of esthetic, so the cake layers themselves were done up as an old school Jello poke cake with strawberry jello. The interior layer was filled with strawberry preserves, and vanilla buttercream. The exterior was crumb coated with Strawberry Crunch Recipe which a mixture of Golden Oreos, butter, and pulverized dehydrated strawberries--I omitted the additional Jello. 

The top was decorated with an edible image from Judy's Edible Imagery. This was the very first time I ever used an edible image, and I was thoroughly pleased with the quality of the image, as well as the ease of applying it to the cake. Additionally, Judy was timely with her replies when I had a few questions. Everyone was wowed by the cake, and some are still talking about it.

Not a lot going on

 Top: Burrito bowl with cilantro lime rice, sautéed shrooms, gojuchang chicken skewers, steamed broccoli, hb eggs w/kimchi mayo . 

Bottom: Kung Pao chicken. Recipe in Woks of Life cook book. 

Distraction Du Jour: Daydreaming Ahead for 2023 Holiday Cookies

It didn't take me long to start thinking ahead to next year's cookies, which ones I'll keep in the rotation from year to year (my versatile icebox cookies, and the Red Velvets always are keepers), what I might try again (the Leckerli, but maybe not a double batch!), and try some new ones for 2023 (possibly a "Mexican Hot Chocolate" Cookie, or some cookies inspired by the Grinch). I've already procured a small Grinch cookie cutter.

I also am thinking ahead to possibly making a Kitty Litter Box Cake for a coworker--I was thinking of it for his birthday in December, but looks like he might be leaving in August, so it might be a farewell cake. I am considering a cake with crumbled oreos in it (a cookies and cream type cake) with mocha frosting, underneath the appearance of kitty litter (and edible turds). My mouth waters as I think of it. Plenty of wonderful recipes over at Broma Bakery!

Perhaps if we see our friends in the summer (for what amounts to our annual visit with them), I'll make the cake then as a "test run" to see how it turns out--and make sure I make it in a disposable sheet pan because they can't be trusted to give me my pans back. Of course, that's assuming a lot--in this case--assuming we get an invitation. 

I want to bake more cakes this year. I even day dream of baking a Red Velvet and doing it up like the Choco-Flan I've done in the past. I think it might be worthwhile.

Gratuitous Cookie Post

Not much to report here, and no recipes provided, but wanted to share this year’s holiday cookie baking photos. 

I try to keep things interesting for me, as it is quite the undertaking. I started a week ago by setting out & measuring all the dry ingredients so i didn’t have to fuss around with that as that is its own task. 

I wanted to try the Leckerli recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s Cookie Book, but couldn’t wrap my brain around the process. Luckily someone uploaded a video on YouTube recently which really clarified things for me. I made a double batch. https://youtu.be/tlIcUhJFjUM

I made red velvet cookies and tricked some out with white chocolate kisses or dark chocolate nonpareils, and some with crushed candy canes. 

I made a triple batch of ice box cookies which i tricked out with different colorings and flavorings. This year’s favorite of mine was caramel mochaccino, which I cut out as some little bears. 

Note to self: Maven, just stop!

Follow up, and then some, on previous post. 

I thought the Charlotte Russe was lovely, however, in hindsight, it was met with what I feel was a lukewarm response. Why bother anymore? Also? When I got home, I realize they never put the bottom of my springform pan in my bag, this rendering my springform ring itself useless without the bottom. That is 50% on me. I should have built the dessert in a disposable pan. Rather than quibble about it, I bought a new set of springform pans, as those friends are not local, and I don’t anticipate seeing them again anytime soon. Furthermore, no text has been forthcoming about the bottom of the springform pan. It’s a goner. Whatever. I knew better. 

Moving on…

There was another post about yet another dessert I could have blogged about, a tiramisu containing churros instead of sponge lady fingers. And how I brought it to the office, and how after one full week, only one serving was eaten. 

In contrast, all the ultra-sweet Little Debbie jelly rolls I dumped on the table, which I was going to use for the Charlotte Russe? Those? More interest was shown to those. 

It almost is enough to give me an inferiority complex. And I give up bringing anything else to the office. Before the pandemic, I made & brought in two different babkas—no interest. Wtf. 

Anyway. Today I might make banana pudding for myself, or something where I will use the mangoes my dear friend gave me. No blog post  will be forthcoming on that. I am just not feeling it today. 

Summertime Tropical Charlotte Russe

We'll be heading to a Memorial Day BBQ on Sunday, and I've been day dreaming of making a Charlotte Russe, and I've been waiting for an excuse to make one. 

Charlotte Russe was my dad's favorite type of cake. I do not believe we ever served one for his birthday even once. Dad died the year I turned 40, so that's a lot of birthdays to go without a favorite cake--and now, every time I make one, I think of dad.

I have all the components at home for this, and I'm trying to just keep it simple and not add too many layers to it, but I could easily "trick it out," but will keep it relatively--I SAID RELATIVELY!, simple. 

I am on a passion fruit kick these days, so of course, that's going to feature into things. And a great friend gave me a nice fat mango which I've been waiting for it to ripen up sufficiently to use.

A Charlotte Russe typically uses those soft spongey lady fingers. In my case, I was planning on using slices of strawberry jelly roll Little Debbie cakes. I'm going to line a bowl with the slices, then layer the dessert in the bowl, which will be the mold for the dessert. But after careful consideration it looks like I'll need to heat up my kitchen after all, and bake a jelly roll.

Also worth noting, that there are aspects of this dessert which remind me of Kalakand. Given that the BBQ is hosted by friend of ours who happen to be from India, I think this dessert might be a huge hit.

I don't plan on heating up the oven, so it's just a matter of assembling things. My ingredient list is relatively short:

1 Box lemon Jello (I'm going to use sugar free)
1 Can sweetened condensed milk
Passion fruit puree
Diced mango
Strawberry jam
A store bought or homemade jelly roll
If needed: Soft spongey lady fingers
Optional: Lime zest or rosewater

The assemblage is pretty easy and obvious.

Line a bowl with saran wrap and layer the entire bowl with slices of the jelly roll, trying not to leave any gaps. If possible, put in freezer so the slices will stay in place.

Apply a thin coat of guava jam on the slices.

Mix up lemon jello with 3/4 cup boiling water to dissolve. Add 1/2 cup passion fruit puree.  Thoroughly blend in one can of sweetened condensed milk. Add in lime zest or about a teaspoon of rosewater at this point if you're into that kind of thing.

Pour into prepared bowl lined with jelly roll slices. Apply an even layer of mango cubes at this point.

Apply a layer (I am going to apply them like spokes on a bicycle wheel) of the spongey lady fingers to the top (which will become the bottom when the Charlotte Russe is dislodged). Wrap in cling wrap and put in fridge overnight to set up.

The hard part for me is to just know when to stop gilding the lily, because I could easily add more layers to this (namely a layer of raspberry jello studded with cubes of white dragon fruit). Maharajah weighed in on this, and the dragon fruit will have to wait for another day. 

The original plan was to use Little Debbie strawberry shortcake rolls in this recipe; however, after opening the box, they're not as jammy as I'd like, and they are really incredibly too sweet too. Also? They look like they'd just crush and squish if I tried to slice cross sections of each. 

I've decided to make my own jelly roll to slice up to be used in this Charlotte. I've decided to use guava jelly, too. Took some doing for me to find some Grace brand guava jelly, as I refuse to give Goya one red penny of my money. 

So that's the plan, a guava jelly roll, with a passion fruit and mango kalkakand inspired filling--which pretty much is a blanc mange in French cuisine, or panna cotta in Italian cuisine.

I plan on using a boxed cake mix (sugar free) for the sponge, and will be making the following ingredient adjustment:

6 eggs (which I might separate, whip the whites a bit, and mix the yolks with the butter and other ingredients, so try to make it sufficiently spongey).
1/4 Cup water
1/4 Cup oil or ghee

375 preheated oven, and will bake about 13-15 minutes in a half a sheet tray, lined with parchment to make the rolling easier. I'll keep an eye on it pretty closely as I don't want the edges of the cake to get overcooked, they'll be too rigid to roll up, and I don't want to waste one bit of this cake.

5/26/2022: Tonight I'll probably make the jelly roll so it'll be cold and firm and ready to slice tomorrow night for the actual assembly.  

Maple Cake

 I clipped this out of a magazine while on a long weekend away, perhaps from a Yankee magazine. Saving herein as a reminder to myself.