French 'Cake' Kef

[Chef Kefi Ed Note: JSK could not stop raving--simply RAVING--about this. I did not get a chance to try it GF, so for now it is full o' flour only.  I will try it with GF flour this weekend and let you know how I did.]

The best part about being in Paris is seeing old friends.  And eating with old friends.  My friend FabKef's girlfriend, HeleneKef (who is herself, of course, a friend now too) has made this delicious 'cake' a few times since I've been here, and I die for it every time.  Careful: in French, 'cake' (pronounced as it is in English) means like 'really delicious bread thing' and not 'cake.'  I have not seen one of these without eating like 6 pieces. It's Keftastic.



Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 2/3 c flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• just under 1/2 c vegetable oil (sunflower if possible)
• 1/2 c of whole milk, warmed (but not scalded!)
• 1/2c gruyere cheese, grated
• 8 oz goat cheese, cut into small pieces
• 1/4 c walnuts, crushed
• 1/4 c raisins
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 pinch of pepper

Assembly
1. Preheat oven to 350. Put raisins in cool water to moisten for about 10 minutes. Strain and pat dry with a paper towel.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, the flour and the baking powder.  In a separate small bowl, combine the goat cheese, nuts, and raisins.
3. Gradually add the oil and warm milk to egg mixture. Stir in the gruyere.  Incorporate the already mixed goat cheese, nuts and raisins into the big mix and get everything all mixed up well (you like my translation skills from the French recipie, no?)
4. Put into a non-greased bread pan and cook for 45 minutes.

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Maple Apple Frangipane

The windows are open, autumnal sunshine is pouring into my kitchen, and the sound of the Howard Homecoming is echoing down the block--the perfect day to put freshly-picked apples to use!

In the beginning of September, I messed around with this thing called frangipane and the results were underwhelming.  I swore not to be outdone by the French and their delicacies (NB: yes, the word "frangipane" is clearly Italian, but Wikipedia tells me it used to be "franchipane," which is apparently French... so I can still blame the fussiness of this almond filling on the French! Sorry, Sarkozypoo!) and I have finally circled back around to conquer this beast.

And conquer it I have.

Let's back up. Earlier this month, I met CousinKef and BabyKef for some fun fall activities that resulted in about 20 lbs of apples sitting in my kitchen waiting to be transformed into autumnal treats.

Why, yes, that IS what 19.3 lbs of apples look like!

Flash forward about two weeks, and we're in spinning class on a beautiful Saturday morning (why I didn't just ride my damn bike in this gorgeous weather is neither here nor there).  The way-too-peppy-for-8am instructor is talking some mess about how good the burn feels when it hits me: I am going to apple-ize the frangi-whatever and it is going to be delicious.

The result was amazing! This may be the creation I am most proud of since I made those out-of-this-word pork chops. There are three components, but none is particularly time consuming. I simplified the process by using a pre-mixed gluten-free pie crust (it is not a pie crust mix, per se, as you still have to add several ingredients--it just pre-combines all the weird flours you have to buy for $8.99/cup into one $3.69 mix and is enough for two pies. Awesome.)

I came, I saw, I frangipaned.  You're welcome.

Apple Frangipane With Maple Glaze
Ingredients

• Pie crust of your choice. I used the Glutino Gluten-Free Pantry Perfect Pie Crust Mix (which requires you to add baking powder, egg, butter, shortening, water, and vinegar). You can do whatever you'd like).
  ---
• 2 c almond flour/meal
• 2 TBS liquor of choice--dark rum or cognac would be good, I used Godiva chocolate liquor because THAT is what your girl keeps around for emergencies, apparently
• 1 stick of butter, cold and cut into TBS portions
• zest of 1 lemon
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/3-1/2c honey
  ---
• 1 large or 2 small sweet apples, peeled and sliced thinly
• 2 TBS butter, melted
• 6 TBS maple syrup (the 100% real stuff--please do not let me find you using IHOP brand or some crap like that.)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
  
  

Assembly  
1. Preheat oven to 425. Whatever pie crust you are using should be cold, so if you made it yourself, put it in a pie or tart pan and let chill in freezer. Once it has chilled for about 20 minutes, poke fork holes all over it and cover the tips with either a wreath of tin foil or a pie-crust shield. Cook until crust is just turning golden brown, which will depend on the crust but will probably take about 12-15 minutes. Set aside to cool. Reduce oven heat to 375.
2. Combine almond flour, liquor, lemon zest, lemon juice, and honey (start with 1/3 c honey and proceed to step 3. If at the end of step 3 the frangipane is not sweet enough for you, add honey and mix until you like the taste.)  A food processor or blender would be easiest, but if you do not have one then stirring vigorously will be just fine. 
3. Cut in the butter one TBS at a time until a thick, gooey paste has formed--again, I did this in my food processor and it took about 1 minute, but you can do it the old-fashioned way with a pastry blender or potato masher. (If you want to add more honey, now is the time.) Set aside.
4. To make the glaze, mix together melted butter, maple syrup, and cinnamon. Put thinly-sliced apples in a bowl and toss with maple glaze. 
5. Place the frangipane (almond mix) in the cooled pie crust and level off with a rubber spatula.  Arrange soaked apple slices however you would like on top in a single layer. Pour remaining maple glaze evenly over the tart. You will probably have a few gooey apple slices left over--eat them!
6. Cook tart until center is firm to touch, it took my little oven about 40 minutes--just start checking around 30 minutes or so. Let cool, enjoy! For added sweetness, whip up a half batch of maple glaze and drizzle a few drops on pieces immediately before serving.

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A Pretty Fig-Almond Tart

Welcome to the first week of the best month of the year: September! It can't be long until QueijoKef and I initiate Operation EAPAAAT: Eat Any Pumpkin Available At Any Time!

Usually, I bring you a dish whose picture doesn't quite do justice to its taste.  Today, we have the opposite. 

Doesn't this Fig Frangipane tart look yummy? Yes, I thought so too when I saw this post on Tastespotting. 

But of course I couldn't just leave well enough alone; I had to take a perfectly delicious-sounding recipe and make it gluten free and sugar free.  This usually works out quite well for me... and then came the frangipane.

We now have Chef Kefi Food Principle #4: when dealing with the French and their recipes, leave well enough alone.  What resulted from my tinkering (subbing GF flour and honey for the all-purpose flour and sugar) was a tart that LOOKED great (if I do say so myself) but whose flavor fell flat.  I am very positive if you follow the above link and make a full-flour, loaded with sugar, buttery treat you will get something that looks--and tastes--as Julia Child would have liked it.

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On the Eve of an Extravaganza: Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Corn Casserole

Upon meeting the Kefi family for the first time, a friend remarked, "Well, you sure don't come from simple stock, do you?"  We're a spirited, complicated, opinionated bunch more or less made for a reality television show (except, sadly, our schticks are real, no scripted). 

This is perhaps most apparent at the Christmas Day meal, when the extended Kefi family gets together and we break bread--except at this table we have at least four loaves: a sugar-free loaf, a gluten-free loaf, an all-sugar, all-gluten loaf, and a loaf of plain, white-ass Wonder Bread. Try the flow-chart below to understand complicated eating patterns of the greater Kefi family at large.

For the past nine years, the Kefi family has celebrated two holidays on December 25th: the birth of Jesus and the annual Extravaganza. My assumption is that you have the skinny on Jesus, His birth, and His life's work.  So, I'll use this space to tell you about the Extravaganza.

On a snowy Christmas in 2002 (JetSet Kef interjection: "a VERY snowy Christmas"), our family friends (known here as the B's) were scheduled to come to Casa Kefi for dinner.  Mama Kef is especially afraid of the snow and called to warn the B's that they ought to stay home--only to find out that the B's had already been out all morning searching for an open diner.  So, despite many strenuous warnings from Mama Kef, they fought the white-out conditions to attend the Inaugural Christmas Extravaganza.

Ten courses, two helpings, 11 people in food comas, and a viewing of Love Actually later, we realized that the snow had accumulated and getting back home would be impossible for our guests. Luckily, the B's came prepared with pajamas, and so the extravaganza raged on into the night (and by "night," I mean until about 830).   By the time we woke up the next morning, Grandma B had scrubbed the kitchen floor, Donna B had made the coffee, Lauren had already drank her first cup of coffee, and Grandpa B had his coat on and was ready to go home.



Though we haven't had a snow-induced sleep-over since, we have maintained many traditions throughout the 8 subsequent Extravaganzas: we don't dare sit at the table until Mama Kef tells us the seating arrangements; we have Brotherhood Winery Holiday Mulling Wine before dinner (to take the edge off, naturaly); we eat, then we sit, then we coffee, then we sit, then we open presents, then we dessert, then we sit, then we go; we open presents one at a time in a circle; we add a "Christmas Miracle" each year (which is a little bit like the Festivus Airing of Grievances, except more fun and less aggressive; we don't educate our asses (you read that right); and often we have a group of funny Frenchies join us, just for kicks (JetSet Kef: "No really-- they're French, so it's funny").



Today, I bring you this year's Christmas Miracle: a dish other than salad that every single person at the Kefi Christmas table could eat.  It's meat-free, gluten-free, AND sugar-free corn casserole! Merry Christmas and enjoy!


Meat-Free, Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Corn Casserole

Ingredients 

• 1 cup milk (soy works just as well-- but adjust honey if it's already sweetened soy!)
• 2 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 2 Tbsp. butter (or coconut oil)
• 1 can each whole-kernal and sweet  corn, drained
• 1/4 c honey 
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
  

Directions:
 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  On medium heat, whisk milk and cornstarch in a small saucepan and simmer until slightly thick and creamy.  It is important that you whisk constantly.  The mixture will get thick all at once-- butter and whisk until melted. Remove from stove and let cool slightly. 

2. Pour drained corn into a mixing bowl.  Once the milk/cornstarch mixture has cooled off a bit, mix into the corn. Add honey , eggs, and vanilla. Pour into a greased casserole dish.

3. Bake for 30-40 minutes until casserole is set and bubbling. Cool slightly before serving.  

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A Moveable Greek Feast

Paris. To some, the City of Lights. To me, the city of cheese, foie gras, charcuterie and … Greek food. 

Here’s a travel secret for you: Paris got Greeks. The problem is, when you think of the Greek restaurants in Paris, you probably think of either the omnipresent ‘Sandwich grec’ stalls that sell fantastic hangover cures (aka greasy street meat) or of men throwing plates at tourists in the Latin Quarter (on a street that a friend once affectionately coined ‘Bacteria Alley’).

Allow me to change your perception.

On a recent trip to Paris, I gathered together a group of Frenchies and hit L’Olivier Restaurant, just off Place de la République. Those who know me know that I don’t set a foot on the Right Bank if I don’t have to, but I am gastronomically bound to ChefKef and I wanted to avoid Paris’s most famous Left Bank Greek restaurant, Mavrommatis.

Mavrommatis is good by all standards, but also traditional and stuffy—not the kind of place that lends itself to an incredibly witty review published on prestigious pages like these. L’Olivier (‘the olive tree’), on the other hand, is small, young, hip and part of France’s ‘le fooding’ movement (once featured by Adam Gopnik in the New Yorker). It’s the kind of place that avoids mousaka and octopus and instead favors what L’Olivier calls “inspirations from traditional cuisine." Plus, it allowed me to reference Adam Gopnik, which keeps Chef Kef happy.

In addition to all Greek-sourced oils and cheese, L'Olivier offers a 40€ 7-course chef’s tasting menu that looked like it might be good enough to change a life or two--but considering JetSet Kef’s upcoming 10-year high school reunion, the group decided to go in a different direction. In a display of sex-solidarity, the guys all chose the same appetizer and entrée, while the girls did the same. If this were the battle of the sexes from the local NY radio station I stream from my office in Dubai (shout out to Terry Donovan), the guys would definitely have won.

Round 1: an amuse-bouche for the table that was all about the cheese. A bit of sweet cheese between two pieces of toast with an AMAZING goat cheese mousse and a little bit of cream on the side. Imagine something sweet, tangy and light all at once--impossible to eat it in less than one mouthful, sadly. WINNER: TIE.

ROUND TWO: The girls’ appetizer, I must say wasn’t so exciting. Tiropitta (cheese pies) with honey. Sure, it tasted good – excellent fresh feta from Epirus and a great honey from somewhere in Crete – but not something JetSet Kef needs to take a 6-hour flight to eat. Delicious, yes; exciting, no. Basically – exactly what I was trying to avoid.

… Which is why I was so happy about MY appetizer. Pumpkin velouté with Greek yoghurt.

Let me tell you – if the Greeks get one thing right (it’s certainly not international finance), it’s seasonal dishes. Thick soup with a pumpkin purée base, with a tablespoon of Greek yoghurt right in the middle to offset the sweet of the pumpkin and the consistency of the soup. And to make it perfect? A little mousse from the left over pumpkin on the side. Divine.  

WINNER: BOYS

ROUND THREE: THE MAIN COURSE. The girls ordered a sea bream over a croustillant of chic peas, herbs and a hint of spinach. Everything about this was technically well done: the fish was cooked just right, the croustillant was cooked just the right amount, but here’s the problem: sea bream is a boring fish and chic peas are a bit boring as well. I mean, the first few bites you think to yourself “Wow, this is nice!” but by bite number four your tastebuds are already thinking about how much more stimulating the appetizer was. (Especially if you had the tyropitta first. Sorry, girls, bad pairing.)  

The picture speaks a thousand words here: it looks nice, but even the plating is a bit dull.

The boys' dinner, on the other hand, was AWESOME. Leg of lamb, barley mixed with greens and a bit of Greek yoghurt. Ba-bam. The lamb was incredibly fresh and tender, cooked to just the right level (clearly more than rare but not quite medium rare) and seasoned perfectly. The barley-greens combination totally did it for me, especially as the little bit of olive oil in it, coupled with the excess lamb juice on the plate, made every bite hearty and delicious. The sweet tangy – and even thicker than usual – yoghurt at the end rounded off the course perfectly.

ROUND FOUR: DESSERT. Now, before I tell you about this course—I need you to know that anything yoghurt sends the powers of the Holy Spirit right through me and I instantly begin speaking in tongues. True story. So get ready for this: three kinds of yoghurt. 

One regular yoghurt mixed with a little bit of honey. One ‘oreo cookie’ of yoghurt: two barely sweet wafers, with cold yoghurt and some citrus – mostly orange, but with a hint of lemon too – compote inside. And then frozen yoghurt: no, silly American – not in a cone, but literally, yogurt shaped into a ball and then kept in the freezer – served with a little bit of cinnamon for dipping. As if that weren’t enough, the server instructed us that the frozen one was to be eaten ‘with our hands.’ We follow instructions well.

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