Spiced Sweet Potato Pie

This is totally dairyfree because I use a frozen pie crust from Whole Foods that is made with oil instead of butter. It's whole wheat to boot, so the pie itself is almost healthy. I thought it would be too spicy, but it's OK. I lowballed the nutmeg and the freshly grated ginger a bit, but the ginger flavor still really stands out, in a good way.

3 large sweet potatoes
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 can coconut milk (5.6 oz)
one whole egg plus two egg whites beaten together lightly
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon molasses
1 teaspoon ground powdered ginger
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom seeds
pinch of salt

In a large pot of water, boil the sweet potatoes until tender, but not falling apart. Start checking at 20 minutes and every five or ten minutes after that until done. Peel the sweet potatoes while hot. The skins should just about fall off. Look for and remove any eyes or dark spots in the flesh.

Empty the pot of water out and either return the potatoes to it for mashing or place the potatoes in a large bowl. Add all the filling ingredients to the pot with the potatoes. You may want to hold back a little of the coconut milk until you can judge the consistency of the filling. Mash all the ingredients together until you have a uniform mush. It should be about the consistency of oatmeal, maybe just a little looser.

Preheat the oven to 350 F and bake for 45 minutes.

Orange-Almond Cake

This is a tweaked Bittman recipe. Turned out rich and yummy, yet light. I'll remember the trick of adding ground nuts to the batter for future cake experiments... it's the key.

1/2 c sunflower oil
1 c sugar
2 eggs
3/4 c slivered almonds
2 1/2 c flour
1/2 t cinnamon
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/2 c (+) fresh squeezed orange juice, in this case it was the juice of 2 oranges
Grated zest of 1 orange

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush cake cake with some additional oil. Use an electric mixer to combine oil and sugar, and then add the eggs and beat until thick and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Grind almonds in Vita-mixer until fine. Mix them with flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Stir a portion of the flour mixture into the egg mixture, then add a little of the orange juice. Repeat, stirring after each addition, until well blended. Stir in the orange zest, then turn the batter out into the cake pan. Bake for 35 minutes.

**I didn't glaze the cake because I didn't think it needed the extra sugar, but after a day and a half it dried out quite a bit. If it's not all going to be consumed right away, I might think about a glaze for it just to give it an added bit of moisture.

A simple lunch kick

I ate this every day for lunch last week. Couldn't get enough of it, and good heirloom tomatoes are starting to appear. Pita sandwiches consisting of...

whole wheat pita
feta cheese
heirloom tomato slices
dolmas/grape leaves
kalamata olives

Simple. Light. Summery.

J's dinner for 4

J did a bangup job replicating the chicken with summer fruits we had at Ambrosia, a slow food restaurant in Valletta, Malta. I told him to write down what he did, or at least remember it, and hopefully I'll be able to return here and post it. All I can say is it involved a sauce of cherries, plums and marsala wine. We enjoyed it with some roasted potatoes and carrots and a nice Sicilian red, Nero D'Avola, Vendemmia 2007.

Dessert was also astonishing. Spiced figs via The Silver Spoon cookbook, with a dash of creme fraiche at the table. This is one sexy dessert! This was complimented by a Sori' Gramella 207 Moscasto d'Asti.

Spiced Figs:

1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground coriander
2 cloves
1/2 t ground ginger
1/2 c superfine sugar
rind of one orange, thinly pared and cut into strips
12 ripe figs

Put the spices, sugar and orange rind in a pan, add 2 1/2 cups water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, then add the figs and simmer for 5 minutes more. Do not let the syrup boil. remove the pan from the heat and let cool. Drain the figs, reserving the syrup, and put them in a dish. Bring the syrup back to a boil and cook over medium heat until reduced by half, then pour it over the figs. Let cool completely.