Tag: zoe nathan

Though she be but little, she is fierce

I have long been a fan of the kumquat.  A childhood friend had a kumquat tree in her backyard and we’d dare each other to eat the tart little fruit, relishing in the novelty of eating the skin.  Last fall I posted a super tasty citrus loaf cake by Zoe Nathan. Her original recipe called for kumquats…not exactly in-season in November. So I made due and waited.

And then I started thinking.

In its directions, the recipe asks the baker to zest several citrus fruits including the kumquats. After I stopped laughing at the idea of zesting something the size of a large olive I thought, there’s got to be another way. So, I took to the internets and found a couple of recipes that use a kumquat puree. Not sure about anyone else, but in my book cutting and seeding a couple of cups of kumquats is much easier than attempting to zest them.

I used my Vitamix to puree the kumquats. Because I could. A regular blender or food processor will work as well. While the puree smelled amazing (I was tempted to dab some behind my ears), it did have just a hint of bitterness in flavor.   Luckily it baked right out.

I also saw the addition of cardamom in a couple of recipes. Cardamom!  That’s fun to say.

I love cardamom’s exotic floral scent and think it makes elevates this recipe just enough  This is a gorgeous loaf—both in looks and flavor.

You all know, I openly admit to my citrus fruit biases, but really, make this cake.

Like now before kumquats disappear until next spring.

By the way, I’m not sure what is going on with the tumbnail photo that is supposed to sit in the upper left of my posts.  I’m on the case!

Kumquat Loaf

adapted from Huckleberry stories, secrets and recipes from our kitchen

Ingredients

  • 1 C+ 2 TBS/ 255 g unsalted butter at room temp
  • 1 C/ 200 g sugar
  • 3/4 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 C kumquats quartered and seeded
  • 2 eggs + 2 egg yolks
  • 1 1/4 C/ 160 g all purpose flour
  • 1/4 C/ 35 g pastry flour
  •  1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 TBS buttermilk
  • 1 TBS vanilla extract
  • 3/4 tsp cardamom

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and line with parchment a 9X5 loaf pan.
  2. Quarter and seed kumquats.  Puree until smooth.  This should yield about 3/4 C puree (though you’ll only use 2/3 C).
  3. Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, cream the butter,  sugar and salt  on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
  4. Incorporate the eggs and egg yolks one-at-a-time, blend well after each addition.  Scrape down sides of bowl a couple of times.  Add-in vanilla.
  5. Fold-in 2/3 C puree (save or discard remainder)
  6. Add-in the flours, baking powder and cardamom.  Mix-on low until ingredients are just combined.
  7. Scoop batter into prepared pan.  Bake for 60 minutes or until the cake springs back when touched and cake tester comes out clean.
  8. Once out of the oven, let rest for 5 minutes then remove loaf from pan.  Dust with confectioner’s sugar before serving.

Bringing home the maple bacon

That’s right, I’m not above starting with a little bacon porn.

Zoe Nathan of Huckleberry, Milo and Olive and Rustic Canyon fame is another of my lady baker-crushes.  So, it wasn’t without anticipation that I patiently waited for her first cookbook, Huckleberry, stories, secrets and recipes from our kitchen to come out earlier this fall.

I’ve talked about Nathan’s iconic Santa Monica brunch (well, and lunch and dinner) spot before.  And even though I still don’t have any tattoos and still feel the same about coconut water, Huckleberry is still a favorite of mine.

And now, so is the cookbook.  I’ve been working my way through the cheery, yellow-polka-dot  edged book, and have to admit my favorite part so far is her double-page spread of “Apologies” that appears right before the index  like a little chocolate served after dessert and coffee.  She is my kind of lady. Oh, and the recipes are great too.

The maple bacon biscuits at Huckleberry are compulsory for any first timer (or second timer…or third timer).  Almost criminal in their decadence, these sweet-savory-crumbly-rich treats alone are worth spending 30 minutes in line listening to the couple in front of you discuss their call-back triumphs and whether that pilot where they had a walk-on will get picked up.

As if you needed further proof than “bacon” to try these, I’ll tell you, they woke Tom out of his general TMH-baking immunity.  People often comment that TD must love all of the baked-goods produced out of the TMH kitchen. And sometimes he does.  But mostly he just ignores it all.  It’s probably the peppercorns I use.  Well, these babies, baked before the sun came up one weekday morning for a meeting caught his attention.

Because they are baked from frozen, this is a great recipe to make through the baking, freeze and have on hand when someone needs a little extra loving’.

Maple Bacon Biscuits

from Huckleberry, stories and recipes from our kitchen, Zoe Nathan

Ingredients

  • 15 slices thick-cut bacon
  • 2 TBS bacon fat (reserve this from cooking your bacon)
  • 6 C (750g) all-purpose flour
  • 2 TBS baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 C (50 g) granulated sugar
  • 2 1/4 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 C (450 g) cold unsalted butter cut into 1/2 inch squares
  • 1/2 C cold maple syrup + 3/4 C for glaze
  • 3/4 C cold buttermilk
  • 1 egg+ 2 TBS water for egg wash
  • fleur de sel for topping

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
  2. Lay bacon on a sheet pan or on a wire cooking rack fitted into a sheet pan (TMH method) and bake until golden brown, about 15-25 minutes.  Allow the bacon and fat to cool.
  3. Chop up bacon and reserve 2 TBS bacon fat.
  4. In a very large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt.  Whisk or toss well to combine.
  5. Add-in the cold butter and work it/cut it in with your finger tips (it’s sort of a snapping-motion) until the pieces of butter are about the size of lima beans.
  6. Add the first 1/2 C maple syrup, buttermilk, bacon and bacon fat.  Lightly toss.
  7. Immediately dump everything onto a clean surface with plenty of room to work.
  8. Using only the heel of you palm, flatten out the the dough.  Gather the dough back together in a mound and repeat.  After 2-3 repetitions, the dough should begin holding together.  Do not overwork the dough, you should still see pea-sized pieces of butter in the dough.
  9. Flatten the dough into a 1 inch thick disk and cut-out the biscuits (remember to resist twisting the cutter as you pull up).
  10. Gently push the scraps back together and cut once more (TMH note-I got exactly 18 biscuits out of this).
  11. Freeze raw biscuits for at least two hours.  Can be frozen, tightly wrapped, up to a month.
  12. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  13. Remove biscuits from freer.  Space them with plenty of room to breath on two ungreased baking sheets.
  14. Bush with egg wash and sprinkle with flour de sel.
  15. Bake from frozen until cooked through and starting to brown, about 25 minutes.
  16. Pour 2 tsp maple syrup over each biscuit to glaze and bake an additional 5 minutes.
  17. These are best eaten the day, nay, minute they come out of the oven.

Tart (if you don’t eat the citrus first)

I began looking for them in January.  Every trip to the market I’d cruise through the citrus section on the hunt for the smallish sunset-colored fruit.

It wasn’t until Valentines Day that I first spotted some in a high-end grocery store.  I paid a king’s ransom for half a dozen.  And then we promptly ate them.

A couple of weeks later they began to appear in the farmer’s markets.  I bought another bag.  We ate that one too.

It wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago that I finally took the time to buy (and not promptly eat) a dozen or so blood oranges and make them into a tart.

Rustic and simple, this recipe made a lovely dessert for a Sunday dinner.

If you like this you might also like these

Blood Orange Cheesecake

Salty Screw

Blood Orange Tart

Zoe Nathan for Food and Wine

Ingredients

  • 1 C all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
  • 1/4 C plus 2 TBS granulated sugar
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 stick plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, the stick cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled
  • 3 TBS ice water
  • 8 to 10 blood oranges (about 5 ounces each)
  • 1 large egg yolk mixed with 2 tablespoons of water

Directions

  1. In a food processor, pulse the  flour with 2 tablespoons of the sugar and the baking powder and salt. Add the stick of cold butter and pulse several times, just until it is the size of peas. Sprinkle the dough with the ice water and pulse just until moistened crumbs form. Turn the crumbs out onto a work surface, knead once or twice and pat the pastry into a disk. Wrap the pastry in plastic and chill for 30 minutes (can be chilled overnight).
  2. On a floured work surface, roll out the pastry to an 11-inch round, about 1/4 inch thick. Transfer the pastry to a parchment paper–lined flat cookie sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes, or until chilled.
  3. Meanwhile, peel the blood oranges, removing all of the bitter white pith. Thinly slice 2 of the oranges crosswise; remove the pits. Transfer the orange slices to a plate. Working over a sieve set over a bowl, cut in between the membranes of the remaining oranges, releasing the sections into the sieve. Remove the pits and gently shake out as much juice as possible without mashing the sections; you will need 1 cup of sections. Reserve the orange juice for another use.
  4. Arrange the orange sections on the pastry, leaving a 2-inch border all around. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the sugar over the oranges. Using a paring knife, thinly slice the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter over the oranges. Fold up the pastry over the oranges, leaving most of the oranges uncovered. Brush the pastry with the egg wash and sprinkle lightly with 1 tablespoon of the sugar. Arrange the orange slices on top, leaving a 1-inch border of pastry all around. Sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar on top. Freeze the tart until solid, at least 4 hours or preferably overnight.
  5. Preheat the oven to 375° and position a rack in the center. Place a baking sheet on the rack below to catch any drips. Bake the tart directly from the freezer for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the fruit is bubbling and the pastry is deeply browned. Transfer the cookie sheet to a rack and let the tart cool for 30 minutes. Carefully slide the parchment paper onto the rack and let the tart cool completely.