Apricot Slice

This recipe, from Bill's Open Kitchen, is for a delightful, not too sweet, apricot tea cake. Made with fresh apricots, it is a true summer time treat.

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
3 eggs
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 1/2 ounces butter, softened
10-14 apricots, pitted and halved
2 tablespoons additional sugar

Preheat the oven to 315 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13 inch baking pan, and set aside.

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the center. Place eggs, milk, and vanilla in another bowl, mix to combine. Pour the egg mixture, and the butter, into the well of dry ingredients and beat for 2 minutes, or until smooth. Spread the mixture into the prepared baking dish.

Push the apricot halves, cut side up, evenly into the batter, in approximately 4 rows of 7. Place the cake in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle additional sugar over cake, and bake for another 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cut into fingers with 2 apricot halves per slices, and serve.

Vanilla Bean Cream Cake

This is a delicious recipe for a simple, pure cake adapted from Baking by Flavor by Lisa Yockelson. Very ingredient-heavy, this cake tastes of vanilla and butter. It's lovely to have with a cup of tea.

Vanilla Butter and Cream Cake Batter

2 1/2 cups unsifted bleached all-purpose flour
1 cup bleached cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
seed scrapings from a plump vanilla bean, reserving the pod for glaze
2 3/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon superfine sugar
2 3/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
5 large eggs
1 cup cream

Vanilla-Rum Glaze for Brushing over the Warm Baked Cake

1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup water
reserved vanilla bean pod, cut into 2 inch lengths
2 teaspoons dark rum
1 1/2 vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease the inside of a plain 10 inch tube pan with shortening. Line the bottom of pan with a circle of parchment paper, cut to fit, and grease the paper. Dust the inside of the pan with flour, and set aside.

Sift the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.

Cream the butter and shortening in an electric mixer, on moderate speed, for 4 minutes. Blend in the seed scrapings from the vanilla bean. Add the superfine sugar, in 3 additions, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Blend in the extracts. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating for 20 seconds after each egg is added.

On low speed, add the sifted mixture in 3 additions with the cream in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula to keep the batter even-textured. The batter should be smooth and creamy.

Pour the batter into the prepared tube pan. Gently shake the pan from side to side to even out mixture. Bake the cake for 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 25 minutes or until cake has risen, set, and a wooden toothpick withdraws clean when inserted.

Let the cake stand in the pan on a cooling rack for 5-10 minutes. Invert the cake, remove pan and paper, and place an additional sheet of waxed paper under the rack to catch any drips of glaze.

To make the Glaze:

Place the sugar, water, and reserved vanilla bean into a small saucepan. Cover the saucepan and set over low heat. When the sugar has dissolved, raise the heat, bring contents of pan to a boil, reduce the heat so that the mixture simmers actively for 3 to 4 minutes. Add rum and simmer for an additional 30 seconds. Remove the vanilla bean pieces. Stir in the extracts. Pour into a bowl and let stand until you are ready to use.

With a soft pastry brush, paint the glaze over the top and sides of the still-warm cake. Cool the cake completely before cutting into slices and serving.

Long Cooked Broccoli

This recipe, adapted from Nancy Silverton's Sandwich Book, is originally a sandwich topper. Served open-faced, on grilled sourdough bread, and topped with soft-scrambled eggs and French Feta cheese, this broccoli is amazing. It is deeply savory, and I think would make a superb side dish, or a smear for crostini also.

1-2 head broccoli, about 1 3/4 pounds
1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
1 small onion thinly sliced
1/2 cup olive oil
1 whole dried chile

Trim and discard the bottom inch end of broccoli stalk. Peel the remaining stalk, and cut it off, leaving about 1 inch of the stalk still intact on the broccoli florets. Slice the remaining stalk into 1/4 inch by 1 inch pieces. Cut the broccoli into 1 inch florets. Set aside.

In a large pot, boil 8 cups of water. Add 1/4 cup of salt. Cook the cut-up broccoli in the boiling water for 2 minutes, or until bright green. Drain the broccoli, and place in a large bowl of ice water to chill. Drain again when chilled, and pat dry with a kitchen towel.

In a large, heavy-duty skillet, combine the broccoli, garlic, onion, olive oil, chile, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Over very low heat, cook the broccoli, stirring occasionally, for 1 1/2 hours, until very soft and tender. Taste for seasoning. Arrange on slices of grilled sourdough bread and squeeze with lemon. Top with softly scrambled eggs, and crumbled Feta cheese.