Carine Clary, Author at The FrangloSaxon Cooks

Carrot Pumpkin Cake

October 23, 2020 by Carine Clary Leave a Comment

I love one layer cakes and a spicy one layer cake with pumpkin and carrot….what could go wrong? Ok, you could burn it or drop it upside down on a dirty kitchen floor (and really, is there any other kind of kitchen floor?) but otherwise this Carrot Pumpkin Cake is a quick to make winner. And it does not need to be round. You can bake it in your standard square brownie pan, adjusting baking time for the size of the pan.

To start you want to beat the eggs, sugars, and oil until very light. This will ensure a lighter texture. The pumpkin puree and buttermilk need to be mixed well and added alternately with the sifted flour and spices. As for the spices you can use what I’ve suggested or add some extras. I once put in an extra teaspoon of cardamom and it was great.

The recipe calls for sultana raisins which are fat and juicy and are my favorites but you could substitute small black raisins or even chopped dates in equal amounts. Soaking the raisins before folding them into the cake makes them even juicier and if you pass on the bourbon soak, try some orange juice or water with a little vanilla in it, or some orange liqueur like Cointreau or Grand Marnier. Be creative!

When it comes to the walnuts you may put some in the batter but I prefer a rough chop and then an application to the sides. Another option would be to ice only the top of the cake and then cover that completely with the nuts. And although it doesn’t call for it in the recipe I splashed out and bought some gold lustre powder and glitter bombed the nuts before adding them to the cake. Very festive.

I can’t close this without mentioning my special love for this icing. It’s butter cream and cream cheese – not too sweet – and with the vanilla and orange flavoring it’s very good. I ate fingerfuls of the leftovers so there’s that for proof.

Since this year’s Halloween is likely to be a low key affair with little to no gatherings or trick or treaters try gathering the family to taste this delicious cake.

Carrot Pumpkin Cake

Author: Carine Clary

Cuisine: Southern

Ingredients

For the Cake:
2 large eggs, at room temperature
¾ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
½ cup toasted walnut oil (or other neutral oil)
½ cup pumpkin puree*
¼ cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tsps. ground cinnamon
2 tsps. pumpkin pie spice
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1½ cups grated carrots (on a box or hand grater, not food processor)
½ cup white sultana raisins, soaked in bourbon
For the Icing:
6 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon orange liqueur (or orange juice)
1¼ cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
½ cup roughly chopped walnuts

Instructions

For the cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).
Grease a 9" springform pan & line with parchment; set aside.
In a large bowl combine the eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil and vanilla, beat well to combine, about 4 minutes. Mixture should be light.
Whisk together the pumpkin and buttermilk.
Sift together the flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and stir into the wet ingredients in three parts alternating with the pumpkin buttermilk mixture; stir until just combined. Batter will be thick. Add in the carrots and raisins; gently fold together until incorporated.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake cake for 45-50 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and set, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool for 20 minutes in the pan, then transfer it to a wire rack to cool.
For the icing:
Beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla on medium-high speed until completely smooth. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the sifted confectioners' sugar. Once all of the sugar has been added beat on high-speed for 1-2 minutes.
Once the cake has completely cooled, spread the frosting over the cake, decorate with nuts, then slice and serve. Store this cake in the fridge, covered, for up to 4 days.

Notes

*Some pumpkin purees are watery some are not. If you open the can and see that it is strain for 20 minutes or so over a bowl.

Shrimp Stew

October 13, 2020 by Carine Clary Leave a Comment

Several things set this apart from a typical Shrimp Stew. Adding tomato paste to the roux at the end, fresh grated nutmeg, and home made shrimp stock, a recipe for which you can find here. I don’t usually make the shrimp stock on the day I’m making this because this is supposed to be a pretty quick & easy recipe if you have the stock on hand. My MO is to make ahead and freeze (and that goes for all stocks I have time to make). If you can’t do that you can check out Kitchen Basics Seafood Broth or Better than Bouillon’s version. If none are available water will do fine.

As always, first you make the roux. You’ll mix the flour into the oil and cook over a low flame until it’s the color of a football (approximately) then stir in the tomato paste and let it cook for a minute.

Next in are the vegetables. The heat from the roux will soften them up after a few minutes then it’ll be time for the tomato/shrimp broth dump. Stir those in well and add all the seasonings. Let cook until it smells insanely good then add the potatoes. And note that the pictured amounts are for half the stated recipe. This half amount will feed four if you’re serving other courses.

Below you’ll see everything right in the pot sweating and steaming its way to a savory finish just waiting for the potatoes and finally the shrimp.

And here at the end is your reward. A warm comforting bowl of fall in New Orleans. Enjoy!

Shrimp Stew

Author: Carine Clary

Cuisine: Creole

Ingredients

For the roux:
½ cup vegetable oil (or olive oil, butter, lard)
½ cup flour
1 tablespoon tomato paste
For the stew:
1½ cup chopped onion
⅔ cup white part of green onions, sliced
⅓ cup chopped celery (including leaves if possible)
2 tablespoons garlic, minced
2 14.5 oz. cans of diced tomatoes with liquid (or 3 cups peeled, seeded & diced fresh tomatoes)
3 cups shrimp stock (or water)
2½ tsps. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
¼ tsp. cayenne (or red pepper flakes)
3 bay leaves (or ½ tsp. powdered bay leaf)
1 tsp. dried thyme (or 3 springs of fresh thyme)
several gratings of fresh nutmeg
2 lbs. white potatoes, peeled & cut into 1 inch cubes
2 lbs. whole fresh medium or small shrimp, peeled & deveined**
1 tsp. lemon juice (or vinegar)
For the Garnish:
sliced green onion
finely chopped parsley

Instructions

In a heavy bottomed 6 to 8 quart pot, heat the oil and stir in the flour. Cook over low heat stirring constantly until the roux is peanut butter colored.
Whisk in the tomato paste and cook for about a minute then add the onions, celery, and garlic.
Cook for 3 to 4 minutes then add the tomatoes* with their juice (if using canned) & shrimp stock, seasonings & lower the heat cooking for half an hour, then add potatoes and cook until done. The potatoes will take about 15 minutes depending on how finely they are cut. Smaller equals faster.
Add the shrimp and cook for five minutes.
Finally, add lemon juice, chopped parsley, and chopped green onion to taste.

Notes

*If you use fresh tomatoes boil a pot of water, stick a large fork into the stem end of the tomato and lower into the water. Hold in the boiling water until the skin breaks (about a minute or so) then remove and peel.
**If you have only large shrimp cut them in half.

Strawberry Swiss Roll

September 21, 2020 by Carine Clary Leave a Comment

Swiss Rolls are one of those photogenic bakery items that people think look too pretty for normal people to successfully prepare. Kinda like the most beautiful girl in the senior class who doesn’t get asked to the prom cause everyone thinks she already has been. But our little Swiss Miss will be invited everywhere and will surprise you with ease of prep and utter deliciousness.

Most people hesitate when thinking of rolled cakes because…..rolling. They think it will crack. But it rarely does (never with me) and if it cracks you have whipped cream to spackle it with.

But first things first. The cake. It’s a sponge cake that you bake in an ungreased cookie sheet with edges, also called a jelly roll pan for obvious reasons. You will line it with paper, evenly spread the batter over it and cook for 15 minutes or until just golden. Then loosen the edges with a knife, flip it on to a dish cloth and peel the paper off. While still warm fold an edge of the towel over the end and roll up gently. Leave it there till cool about half an hour. And as for the dishcloth you want one that’s got a flat weave so that it will roll more tightly and not scatter lint on your masterpiece. As you can see I lacked that and so used a regular old dish towel which, although not optimal, worked ok. Any lint that escaped the confines of the towel was subsumed into the whipped cream and went unnoticed by those eagerly gobbling the finished product. So be flexible when you must and usually things will work out.

Rolled up it will look like this:While that’s cooling you will whip your cream and slice up most of the berries saving a few for decorating the top. You’ll also want to save a little of the whipped cream for the decorative blobs on top. If you don’t have a pastry bag with a tip don’t worry. Put a few spoonfulls in a plastic bag, snip off one corner and squirt you some very professional dollops of cream. Below behold the whipped cream fixins. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Once unrolled use a pastry brush to spread the jam mixture over the cake then spread the whipped cream over that and cover with chopped strawberries. Roll back up carefully and dust with powdered sugar. Add the whipped cream and berries to the top then transfer to a serving dish, put in the fridge for an hour to cool the whipped cream and you are ready to serve. It will keep for a couple of days there without getting soggy. (It won’t last that long but just for the record it could.)

And a tip. You can use other fruit but I’ve found strawberries and peaches to be overall best. Blueberries bleed a little but taste good and are a nice addition if you’re making a fourth of July patriotic roll. If you like blackberries and raspberries go for it. I love both but not so much in this because of the seeds and they are a little too tart. But to each his own.

And that’s it folks. A gorgeous filled cake that’s surprisingly not too filling, just flavorful and light.

Strawberry Swiss Roll

Author: Carine Clary

Ingredients

For the Sponge Cake:
4 large eggs room temp
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup all-purpose flour, sifted
½ tsp baking powder
For the Syrup:
3 tablespoons apricot jam
1 tablespoon orange liqueur
For the Strawberry Filling:
1 cup whipping cream
½ cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier
1 tsp. orange zest
1 cup strawberries chopped (reserving several berries to garnish)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line the bottom of an 18x13 rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper (do not grease). The paper should just cover the bottom.
Add eggs & sugar to a bowl and beat on high for 4 to 5 min until thick & about triple in volume.
Whisk together flour and baking powder and sift into egg batter one third at a time, folding to incorporate.
Transfer to the baking sheet & bake at 350˚F for 13-15 min or until top is barely golden. Remove from oven and right away run a thin edged spatula or knife around edges of your cake to loosen from the pan. Immediately invert cake face down onto a clean, dry linen towel, remove parchment paper then roll cake into the towel. Let cool to room temp (30 min - 1hr).
Meanwhile, thin the apricot jam with the liqueur or with water & set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine heavy cream, orange zest and powdered sugar. Beat together starting on low speed to incorporate sugar, then turn the mixer up to high speed for 2-3 min or until whipped, white and fluffy, scraping down the bowl as needed. Save a few tablespoons for topping if desired.
Carefully unroll cake and loosen from the towel. Brush the top evenly with the jam. Spread out the filling but not to the edges. Place chopped strawberries on top then roll the cake tightly in the same direction you rolled it the first time. Slice off the edges if desired and dust generously with powdered sugar.
If you are topping it with whipped cream put into a pastry bag and do several dollops and top with a sliced half strawberry in the center.

Notes

Sponge cakes rely on the volume of the whipped eggs to rise properly. You must beat the eggs and sugar for the time stated.
To prevent cracks the cake should be rolled in the linen towel right after it comes out of the oven.
You can use straight Grand Marnier as the syrup if you want a little more punch.

Coq au Riesling

August 16, 2020 by Carine Clary Leave a Comment

Who says warm braised chicken, aka, Coq au Riesling, can’t be perfect for warm summer evenings? It can and this subtle version is not only simpler, but more delicately flavored with only leeks, shallots and parsley. I scuttled the garlic, thyme etc… And since the meat cooks at a lower temperature it needs to be on the bone for maximum flavor & unctuousness.

To start you’ll want to cut up a small chicken or get three pounds of parts (I usually default to thighs) then dry them off and season with salt and pepper. Heat the oil and butter in your pot and when it’s hot place the chicken skin side down in the fat. Don’t move it until the skin has formed a golden crust. You can determine this by shaking the pan gently. If the skin is crispy it will release naturally. Once it does, flip it and do a quick brown on the other side then remove from the pan and set aside.

While the chicken’s browning, carefully wash and chop the the bottom greenish/gold part of the leeks and the shallots. Put them in the pan and saute for a few then add the wine, scraping the bottom to bring up the browned parts. After a good stir throw in the bay leaf then place the halved and peeled carrots on top and the chicken with its juices on top of that. Let it boil until somewhat reduced then cover and put in the oven.

While it’s cooking boil the potatoes in salted water. The reason I do this separately is to make sure the potatoes aren’t overcooked. And I know that having potatoes and noodles is gilding the lily but I love them both so you can skip the noodles if that’s too excessively starchy. Once the chicken is done remove to a serving platter and stir in the minced parsley, potatoes and heavy cream. Spoon over the chicken, top with chives and serve. If you’re serving with the noodles as an option you’ll want to put them on the individual serving plates before digging in to the chicken and cream sauce.

Finish with a squirt of lemon and you are good to go!

Finally, if you’re looking for a light summer salad make my orange arugula version. It’s a perfect tart foil for the creamy chicken.

And now a word about the wine:

Riesling, or as the French say, “L’un des plus grands cépages du monde!”

And they’re right! It really is one of the greatest grape varieties which is why I wanted to provide a little background since it’s in the title of the dish, but also because it’s one of my favorites. Riesling has many styles but it’s summer and the right Riesling style for a braised chicken dish is a dry minerally one with distinct under ripe fruit and citrus notes. It won’t overwhelm the other ingredients and has the added bonus of going down easy with the meal. The late harvest sweet versions are famed but the topic for another posting since they’re enjoyed in different contexts.

Riesling is a grape grown on both sides of the Rhine but compared to their German counterparts, dry Alsatian Rieslings tend to be drier, have more mineral notes and be aligned more closely with the citrus spectrum of fruit flavors. The grape began to be cultivated in Germany in the 15th century before crossing the border to France in the 17th. For the purposes of this recipe there’s not a big difference between the two so any of the younger drier versions are fine and you can even try excellent varieties grown in Washington State, the New York finger lakes region or Australia’s Clare Valley. As you can see from these far flung locations Monsieur Riesling is a traveler who only demands cooler weather, especially at night. The other advantage accruing to this varietal is its consistent quality across brands. What does that mean? Simple – it means that all the major growers will deliver a delicious product regardless of brand or vintage. In addition to the Trimbach I used you might try vintages from Beyer, Windsbuhl, or Josmeyer.

The dryness lightness and lower alcohol allow it to cut through the cream and fat. Perfect for chicken, pork and fish and of course, perfect for the Coq au Riesling featured here.

And remember, the French expression for a bribe is a “pot de vin.” With one of these vintages you could bribe almost anyone to do anything. Good to know in election season!

Coq au Riesling

Author: Carine Clary

Ingredients

3 lbs chicken parts
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 tablespoons butter
3 leeks, (equal to about 1.5 cups chopped)
2 tablespoons shallots, finely chopped
4 carrots, halved
1 cup dry white wine
1 lb. small round red potatoes, unpeeled
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, chopped
⅔ cup creme fraiche or heavy cream
lemon juice to taste
buttered egg noodles

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325.
Pat chicken dry, salt and pepper well, then heat oil and the butter in an oven proof pan over medium high heat. Place chicken skin side down in fat and brown on each side. Remove and set aside. About 10 minutes. Don't crowd the pan. Do in batches.
Wash leeks carefully and chop the white and pale green parts.
Add leeks and chopped shallots to the pan and cook until pale gold about 5 minutes.
Place carrots in pan and top with the chicken (skin side up) with its juice, then add bay leaf & wine. Let boil for 3 or 4 minutes until reduced by about half then cover pot and place in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes.
While the chicken cooks boil the potatoes in cold salted water until tender, about 15 minutes, drain, add parsley and shake to coat, and add to chicken along with the creme fraiche or heavy cream.
Squeeze lemon juice on individual servings if desired.

Carrot Pumpkin Cake

Shrimp Stew

Strawberry Swiss Roll

Coq au Riesling

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