Friday, December 21, 2007

Apricot and ginger cake.

It's more like the polenta, almond meal and self-raising flour together make 2 cups.

The variation I made next was an apricot & ginger version.
The dried apricots and crystalised ginger pieces soaked in rum.
The topping was glace apricots, flaked almonds and crushed ginger nut biscuits.

Gray says it's better than the first version.
But that might be because we iced it (to conceal a break) with vanilla icing.
And he's a bit of a kid about icing.

It is amazing though. Really beautiful to look at.

Our cooking lately has become so much better and is finally getting a kind of stamp of its own since Angelata & Mannie have been working together. When they actually cook together the dishes they create together are truly original and so good. I need (I'm just jo) to get my act together and start noting down their recipes. I have been watching. Sometimes I like the idea of a wired up kitchen, where it's all recorded so I could later identify exactly what happenned. Both Mannie and Angelata pour scorn on this idea but I can tell they're intruiged.
The other interesting thing that has become plain after so long of not being able to see it is that the two are very similar in many ways. Their ideology (and their food!) so different and the years of conflict between them has blinded me to it but I see now - they're so similar!

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Polenta Pear and Almond Cake

stuff:
four big eggs (free range duck)
some butter (or nuttelex)
some icing sugar and some raw sugar
cup of almond meal, cup of polenta, cup of self raising flour
a fresh pear
several dried pears
a cup of brandy (whiskey)

turn on the oven (180 degrees)
soak pears in brandy (or whiskey) and set aside
make the topping of crushed dark chocolate and finely chopped fresh pear with a little brown or raw sugar and set aside

cream the butter and sugar until you have about a cup in a mixing bowl
add yolks one at a time and cream, setting aside egg whites

add almond meal, stir, add polenta, stir, add flour, stir
chop the dried pears up and pour the remaining whiskey into mix
whisk egg whites until they're white and fluffy and then
fold them into the mix

pour/ladle out half the mix into the greased cake pan and then add pieces of whiskey soaked dried pear
pour/ladle out the rest of the mix on top

add topping: crushed chocolate, chopped fresh pear

bake at 170 degrees for fifty minutes

allow cake to cool in tin for a little while before removing