SHAKSHOUKA

If you haven’t checked out Gather Journal yet, I suggest you get around to it soon. It’s basically a Brooklyn based bi-annual recipe-driven magazine with beautiful photos, inspiring ideas and recipes, and unique ways to dine, drink, harvest, and gather.  I know that Tivoli Mercantile carries it as well as my work-place Finch in Hudson, but if you’re in the city I’m sure you’ll find it with no problem. 

Anyway, I saw a recipe for Shakshouka in this last issue; a Hebrew dish of poached eggs in tomato sauce with peppers, onions, garlic, spices, cheese, and bread to mop it all up with. It’s sort of a Middle-Eastern version of huevos rancheros which we all know how much I loooove. Not to mention, "shakshouka" is just really fun to say. Gather calls for feta cheese but by the time I realized I didn’t have any, I was half-way through cooking so I substituted with mozzarella and parmesan, adding a little sea salt to make up for the saltiness of feta. This undoubtedly turned it into a more Italian-style dish, but it was so absolutely delicious, I didn’t care and want to share it with you anyway. In a blind taste- test, you would swear there was pasta and sausage in the skillet dish. Spices and texture are amazing that way, aren’t they?

INGREDIENTS:

1 yellow onion, thinly slices

3 T extra-virgin olive oil

5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

3 Anaheim or cubanelle peppers, seeded and cut into thin strips

½ t coriander seeds, crushed

1 t paprika

¼ t cayenne 

Black pepper to taste

1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes

1 small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, chopped

4 oz creamy feta, crumbled (OR: about 3 oz diced mozzarella, ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese, and about 1/3 tsp. sea salt)

4 large eggs

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Cook onion in oil in a large cast-iron skillet or sauté pan over medium heat until translucent. Add garlic and peppers and sauté until they begin to soften. Stir in coriander, paprika, and cayenne, and cook stirring until fragrant (about 1 minute). Stir in tomatoes, ¾ cup water, and ½ of parsley. Simmer until fairly thickened- about 25 minutes.

2. Reduce heat to a very gentle simmer. Scatter feta. Using a spoon, make 4 indentations in the sauce. Crack an egg into each indentation, partially cover pan, and cook until eggs are set, about 10-12 minutes.

3. Sprinkle with remaining parsley and drizzle with olive oil. Serve with toasted bread. 

Pumpkin Crème Fraiche Cornmeal Coffeecake with Walnut Streudel and Buttermilk Glaze

Coffee cakes are one of my favorite things because they make such a perfect breakfast, tea/coffee time snack, or dessert. I’ve always been a sucker for sour crème ones, so Beth of Local Milk blog’s crème fraiche addition sounded like a gooood idea. Beth's recipes though usually pretty complicated are some of the most imaginative, creative, and magical ones I've come across. Not only that, but her writing is superbe! Last winter I broke up with Netflix and got lost in her many chronicles 

The special occasion for this moist festive cake was Thanksgiving. When assigned dessert, I immediately thought of pumpkin pie because, well it’s my favorite. This is a crumbly, most, spicy pumpkin cake with a symphony of flavors brought on by the tartness of crème fraiche and buttermilk, the earthiness of the pumpkin, the spiciness of the nutmeg cloves, cinnamon, and ginger, and the sweet of dark and rich brown sugar.  I did cheat and use canned pumpkin, which left me with no pepitas like the recipe called for. Instead, I lightly toasted and chopped up some walnuts which definitely did the trick. 

For The Cake

• 1 1/2 cups lightly packed) cake flour
• ½ cup cornmeal
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• pinch of ground cloves
• A heaping ½ cup coconut oil
• 1 cup packed) brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup crème fraîche
• 1/2 cup  homemade or high quality pumpkin puree
• ¼ cup buttermilk

For the Streusel

• ¼ brown sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 6 Tbsp refrigerated butter
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup toasted and chopped walnuts (or roasted pumpkin seeds!)

For Glaze

• 2 Tbsp buttermilk
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350°F and grease an 8” cast iron skillet or cake pan.
2. In a mixing bowl whisk together the first 9 ingredients. Set aside.  
3. In a second mixing bowl mix crème fraîche, pumpkin puree, and buttermilk. Set aside.
4. In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or by hand with a rubber spatula), cream coconut oil and brown sugar until well combined.
5. With the mixer on low (or while manually mixing), add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each is incorporated.
6. In three additions add the dry and wet ingredients, starting with the dry and ending with the wet. Mix to only just combine; don't over mix.
7. Pour batter into skillet and bake for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, make the streusel.
8. Combine all ingredients for the streusel except the pepitas/walnuts using two knives to create a crumbled, sandy mixture. Mix in the pepitas/ walnuts.
9. After 20 minutes remove the cake, sprinkle the streusel on top, and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean save a few crumbs.
10. While cake cools, make the glaze by whisking the powdered sugar 1/4 cup at time into the buttermilk. You can add more sugar to make it thicker or more buttermilk to make it thinner as you please.
11. Drizzle glaze over cooled cake & serve with coffee!