marble cake with olive oil.

This weather is weird. 

The calendar says May.  I am dreaming endlessly about rhubarb, strawberries, and asparagus.  The farmers markets on the other hand don’t feel like May. This weather still feels like winter.  I am feeling all kinds of out of sorts which is why I made a marbled pound cake. 

Marbled pound cakes make me thing of my mom.  She has a tried and true recipe that she used to bring to the bake sale.  It was a thing of beauty.  Each slice revealed a swirl of black and white.  It was dense and moist and I couldn't get enough of it.  I still can’t get enough of it.  

This version is what I would call an updated version of the classic.  The use of olive oil instead of butter makes this cake lighter and brighter and also contributes some fruity notes.  The pepper provides the subtlest hint of heat. These changes help to transform the classic but at the end of the day, it’s still an awesome marbled pound cake that everyone will love.   

Marble Cake with Olive Oil 
Recipe from Food 52

Makes 1 Bundt Cake or 2 Loaves 

½ cup (45 grams) natural cocoa powder (non-alkalized, non-Dutch processed)

½ cup (100 grams) sugar

1/3 cup water

3 cups (385 grams) all-purpose unbleached flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 cups (400 grams) sugar

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon finely ground white pepper (or black peper)

5 cold eggs

1 cup cold milk

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter or spray a 10-to-12 cup tube pan with oil spray and dust it with flour. (Or 2 9x5 loaf pans.)

In a medium large bowl, whisk the cocoa, 1/2 cup sugar, and water until well blended.

In another medium large bowl, whisk the flour and baking powder thoroughly and sift onto a piece of wax paper. Set aside.

In a the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the 2 cups sugar, oil, vanilla, salt, and pepper until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue to beat until the mixture is thick and pale, 3 to 5 minutes. Stop the mixer and add one-third of the flour mixture. Beat on low speed just until blended. Stop the mixer and add half of the milk. Beat just until it is blended. Repeat with another third of the flour, the remaining milk, and then the remaining flour.

Add three cups of the batter to the cocoa mixture and stir until blended. Pour one-third of the plain batter into the prepared pan and top with one third of the chocolate batter. Repeat with the remaining batters. Don’t worry about marbling the batters—that happens during the baking.

Bake 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Set the pan on a rack to cool. Slide a skewer around the tube and a thin metal spatula (or knife) around the sides of the pan. Lift the tube and slide the spatula under the cake to detach it from the pan bottom. (If using loaf pans, just slide a knife around the edges and invert.) Transfer the cake to a serving platter. The cake keeps for several days, at room temperature, under a dome or wrapped in plastic.

merida (in pictures) and notes.

Merida (and the surrounding area) in pictures.

Merida itself, while beautiful in a nostalgic kind of way, is not the kind of place you would seek out as a destination.  Instead it makes for a wonderful central base for traveling to different destinations in the Yucatan. The Yucatan is chock full of beautiful things.  Ancient Mayan temples, cenotes, beach towns, and haciendas that remind you of the riches and wealth that once lived in Mexico.  Here are some of my favorite things and places I suggest you seek out.  

-Casa Lecanda is the kind of  hotel that manages to transport you to a different more magical place.  It's breathtakingly beautiful with the pool that am still dreaming about.  The service is impeccable and the rooms are gorgeous.  Why can't all hotels be this great?

-I didn't eat much (or as much as I planned on eating) in Merida since I got absurdly sick on day 2 so I rather shockingly can't discuss much of the food.  But!  We did eat at Olivia which is an Italian restaurant (since Merida has a strong European influence) and it was amazing (so good we ate their twice).  In New York they could charge 3 times the price!  The pastas were all homemade, the bread was all freshly baked, and there was a roasted red pepper sauce on the goat chesse ravioli that I am still dreaming about and plan on recreating once peppers are in season.  (There was also a brocolli pesto that has me rethinking everything I ever thought about pesto.)

-The Hacienda Yaxcopoil is a breathtaking place that shows you how the wealthy once lived.  

-Chichen Itza is the main draw when people visit the Yucatan.  We decided to forgo it since most things we read described as a tourist trap chock full of people selling you things.  The Mayapan Ruins are a much better destination, are far less crowded, and just as fascinating.  

-Sotuta De Peon is a an amazing hacienda turned hotel turned tour site where you can learn about the former rope business that turned Merida into one of the wealthiest cities.  It's also home to a cenote which as I've said before is like swimming in a magical underwater dream.  A must visit 

avocado toast.

If you were to ask me what I eat more often then not, the answer would be avocado toast.  Avocado toast is the food I dream about.  It's my default snack, my lunch when I don't know what to make.  It's my dinner when I am home alone and watch Real Housewives of New York Marathons.  It's the most perfect food.  Ever.  

After discussing English Muffin Bread last week which makes for an epic base for avocado toast (as evident by these pictures), I figured it was finally time to discuss my version.  This is one step up from the bare bones original of smashed avocado and sea salt because in my world a little extra spice (and cheese!) never hurts anything.
























Avocado Toast

This recipe is a jumping off point.  I have used all sorts of cheeses and spices (havarti can be really wonderful as is crushed chipotle pepper).  Experiment.  The key is good bread and a really ripe avocado.  

Makes 2 Pieces

2 slices of bread, any kind, though I am partial to nutty 5 grains or the previously posted english muffin bread
1/4 - 1/2 an avocado (the amount will depend on the size of the bread or how generous you are with the avocado)
1/4 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
1/2 teaspoon Mike's Hot Honey or regular honey
1 tablespoon crumbled feta, ricotta salata, or cotija 
Flaky sea salt and black pepper

Toast your bread well.  Spread equal amounts of avocado on each slice.  Sprinkle the Aleppo pepper and cheese evenly over the two slices.  Drizzle the honey.  Season with salt and pepper.   Devour.  Immediately.  

merida, mexico.

It's only once I leave New York, the land of black overcoats and black jeans that I remember how much I love color.  























Mexico is so full of color and patterns and light.  The vibrancy kills me.  Tyler and I keep contemplating about which of the 517 dilapidated casa's and hacienda's that we pass on every walk should we buy.  We would fix it up and make it our winter retreat.  We would hide out during the month of February eating avocado, papaya, and limes.  We would drink tequilla on the rocks.  We would gorge on tacos and pizza (because apparently Merida has a big Italian influence. All my favorite foods in one place.  This is paradise.) 

This place is so beautiful it hurts.  It's also serves as a reminder of the wealth and riches that used to reside here. Now it's nothing more then the bones of it's former glory.  If I had millions and billions I would return this city to it's former state.  I would make it a place people seek out.  A place people see people pictures of feel a sense of awe and wonderment.  

So. Much. Color. So much to love.

english muffin bread.

This my friends is English muffin bread/toast which if you ask me is the greatest thing since well, regular toast. I didn't know such a thing existed until recently and now I can't imagine breakfast without it.

The name describes this loaf fairly accurately. When sliced and cooked it looks just like ordinary toast but after one bite it reveals it's true identity and that is toast with the flavor profile of an English muffin (without the hassle of making individual English muffins). The nooks and crannies make for an excellent vessel for hiding salted butter and jam which is my preferred way of eating it. Especially when served with a cappuccino and the Sunday New York Times.

English Muffin Bread 

Recipe from Lootie and Doof

Makes 2 Loaves

Cornmeal

5 cups (27 1/2 ounces) bread flour

4 1/2 teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons salt (fine/table salt)

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 cups whole milk, heated to 120°F

Grease two 8½ by 4½-inch loaf pans and dust with the cornmeal. Combine the bread flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and baking soda in large bowl. Stir in the hot milk until thoroughly combined. Cover dough with greased plastic wrap (so it doesn't stick to top of dough) and let rise in warm place for 30 minutes, or until dough is bubbly and has doubled in size.

Stir dough to deflate and divide between prepared loaf pans, pushing into corners with greased rubber spatula. (Pans should be about two-thirds full.) Cover pans with greased plastic and let dough rise in warm place until it reaches edge of pans, about 30 minutes. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375°F.

Discard plastic and transfer pans to oven. Bake until bread is well browned and registers 200°F, about 30 minutes, rotating and switching pans halfway through baking. Turn bread out onto wire rack and let cool completely, about 1 hour. Slice, toast, and serve.

Note: You can, of course, cut the recipe in half if you only want one loaf. It is worth stressing that this bread must be toasted. It is not worth eating if it is not toasted, much like an English muffin.

coconut macaroons. (for passover!)

While I do not celebrate Passover, I can get behind the Passover related foods.  I have a slight obsession with matzo slathered in peanut butter.  I also adore a good Tex-Mex matzo brei scramble (don't knock it 'till you try it) and let's not forget chocolate-toffee matzo bark! But what I really love is macaroons.  Coconut macaroons dipped in deep dark chocolate (without a trace of flour!).  They are divine.  

I already had a coconut macaroon recipe and while I love it I find it to be a little well, finicky (stirring for 10 minutes straight starts to verge into arm work-out territory).  This one!  This one is so easy-peasy you could give the recipe to a small child and they would be able to give back to you a tray of perfect cookies.  While these are perfect for Passover, I think they would also be a pretty great addition to your upcoming Easter celebration.  Or really any random Tuesday that you deem a celebration.  

(Sorry for the lack of pictures.  Everyone ate them and all I was able to save was one!  I think that means they were good.)  

Coconut Macaroons
Recipe adapted from Leite's Culinaria

The only change I made to the recipe was the sugar.  The original recipe call for 2 CUPS which seemed ungodly high to me.  I cut it in half and the results are awesome.  Sweet but not cloyingly so.  

Makes about 48 cookies

8 lightly packed cups sweetened flaked coconut (two 14-ounce bags)

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup egg whites (about 8 large whites)

2 teaspoons almond extract

2 cups dark chocolate (chopped if a bar or chips)

Position an oven rack in the center position and preheat the oven to 350˚F (176˚C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, toss the coconut and sugar until thoroughly combined. Add the egg whites and almond extract and mix by hand until the coconut is completely moistened.



Use a small ice cream scoop or a spoon to form the macaroons, about 1 rounded tablespoon each, and place them on the prepared sheets, leaving about 1 inch between the macaroons to allow for spreading. Slightly flatten each macaroon with the palm of your hand.

Bake the macaroons, 1 sheet at a time, for about 15 minutes, until lightly golden. (If you prefer your macaroons with an exceptionally crisp, browned outside in contrast to the moist, pale inside, bake for up to 18 minutes.) Cool the macaroons completely on wire racks.

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan filled with simmering water (do not let the bottom of the bowl touch the water), put the chocolate in the bowl, and let it melt, stirring occasionally. The end result ought to be exceptionally smooth.  (You can also do this in the microwave.  Place the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for about 15 second intervals.  Stir every 15 seconds.  Repeat until melted and smooth.)

Dip the cooled macaroons into the chocolate, coating each halfway, and place the dipped macaroons back on the parchment-lined baking sheets. Let the chocolate set. Store the macaroons in an airtight container for up to 1 week at room temperature. (Hah! As if they’ll last….)