This blog recently had a birthday, and I forgot to notice. I guess I got distracted by my own birthday. I just this week turned 25. There was a flourless chocolate cake baked by Marta, and a whole week of the most gorgeous NYC spring weather I’ve ever seen. I’m feeling ready for new things this spring. You see, I like to think of my birthday as the start of a new year. It makes more sense to me than New Years does, because this is, after all, the anniversary of my actual beginning.

I thought of starting my new year by making some grand resolutions: I thought of promising that I’d be a better blogger, or that I’d actually start writing down all the recipes I create. But then I couldn’t help but wonder about, and doubt, the purpose of this little blog I started here three years ago now. Back when I started this blog it was my fun respite from a career path that had nothing to do with food. But for a while now I’ve been in this job that I actually love, where I spend every day working on a website about food. And then somehow my own little cooking blog began to feel too much like work. I never stopped cooking, and I’m dying to share everything with you all, but this sitting in front of the computer publishing things online business has become hard for me to do in my precious free time.

So I won’t make any promises for this year, but I want you to know that I’m still here, that I’m thinking about you all, and that I wish I could write more. In the meantime, you can find me on Twitter, and I’ll try my best to be back here more soon. Even though I’m a bit confused right now about what this blog should be, I still truly value this space, and I appreciate knowing that some of you, sometimes, are still stopping by to check in on me here (thank you for that). So here’s to another year, whatever it may bring!

Towards the end of winter, bogged down by busy days and coming home to an empty kitchen, I turned towards breakfast food for dinner. Looking back on the meals I repeatedly cooked when no one else was around, two things stand out: gently fried eggs on top of kale sauteed in butter and chili flakes, and a warm soul-soothing bowl of savory oatmeal. I invented this dish one night when I was too tired to face preparing a real meal, but craving something wholesome enough to sink my teeth into. There wasn’t much in the fridge, but I had a pear, and some Parmesan, and I’ve always got oats. I’ve repeated this dish many times since then, for dinner, for breakfast, or for a snack. Steel-cut oats, slow-cooked until just tender, so they’ve still got a bit of chew to them. Slices of pear seared in butter with a bit of honey, flipped occasionally until they’re very caramelized. Thin shavings of sharp Parmesan, generously sprinkled over a bowl full of the oats and pears. The whole mess topped with a drizzle of spicy dark green olive oil, a pinch of salt, a whisper of nutmeg. When nothing else would do, this meal hit the spot in just the right way. You should try it someday.

As soon as I saw Melissa Clark’s recipe for Olive Oil and Coconut Brownies in the NY Times last week I knew I would have to try it ASAP. I’m always a sucker for sweets made with olive oil, and the idea of sprinkling salt on top of brownies had me instantly salivating. So this weekend, with my dad staying with us and a group of friends coming over for dinner, I pulled out my measuring cups and gluten-free flours, and adapted Melissa Clark’s recipe. These brownies did not disappoint anyone. Gooey and chocolate fudgy with a salty coconut crust and a slight savory hint of olive oil, they are completely irresistible. I packed up most the leftovers and sent them back to NH with my dad as a Valentine’s Day treat for the family, because I knew it wasn’t a good idea to leave me here alone with a pan full of them.

Gluten-Free Olive Oil and Coconut Brownies
adapted from The New York Times
makes about 2 dozen brownies

1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup potato starch
1/3 cup almond meal
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup boiling water
5 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 1/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup olive oil
2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks, lightly whisked
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
about 2 tsp. kosher salt (or fleur de sel if you have it)

Preheat oven to 350 and prepare a 9×13 baking pan by greasing it with olive oil then lining it with parchment paper. (You really do need the parchment paper, I forgot it when I made my batch and suffered the consequences of brownies sticking to the pan.)

In a small bowl, combine the flours and the almond meal.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the cocoa powder with the boiling water until smooth, then whisk in the chopped chocolate. Most the chocolate should melt, but don’t worry about any chunks that don’t, it’ll be good that way. Whisk in the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla.

Once the wet ingredients are well combined, stir in the flour mixture and mix well. Pour into prepared baking pan, and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.

Carefully (and slowly) sprinkle the shredded coconut over the top of the batter, making sure to cover it as evenly as possible. Sprinkle the salt on top as well, working in a systematic way from top to bottom so you know where you’ve already salted (since you won’t be able to see the salt on top of the coconut). Don’t be afraid to be generous with the salt! Trust me, it’s an important ingredient.

Bake until the coconut is golden-brown on top and the batter is set, about 35 minutes. Don’t bother with a knife or toothpick test for these brownies, it shouldn’t come out clean.

Let the brownies cool completely before cutting into 2 inch squares for serving.

We’re in the very midst of bleak midwinter here, and I’ve been craving herbs. My heart full of longing for fresh-out-of-some-lovely-field-herbs I’ve packed my crisper drawer full of fresh-off-some-air-plane-from-far-away-herbs. I just can’t get enough of them. I’ve been grabbing leaves by the handful and flinging them across everything I eat. You’d be surprised just how much that splash of green brightness helps to drive away any lurking midwinter blues. Fruit helps too. Plenty of fruit in bowls in front of chilly windows.

This past Saturday, with six of my friends scheduled to come over for dinner, I woke up craving herbs (and lemon zest) again, and planned my menu accordingly. A whole fillet of rich wild salmon was marinated in a simple pure of garlic, the juice and zest of a meyer lemon, parsley, rosemary, olive oil, salt, and pepper, then baked till just done and served with a yogurt, lemon, olive oil, mint, parsley, and dill sauce. French lentils were braised with leeks and thyme in plenty of white wine and a splash of orange juice, then mixed with a heaping cup full of diced fresh parsley and mint just before serving. For dessert, inspired by a recent meal at al di la, I slowly poached pears in white wine and sherry, then served sprinkled with fried sweet rosemary and some tart whipped cream. My friend Ryan produced a show-stopping salad to start off our meal of baby arugula, juicy persimmons and pomegranate seeds, crunchy roasted hazelnuts, doused in a appropriately sweet vinaigrette (I wish more people understood that the key to a good vinaigrette is add sugar- thank you Ryan!). And for mopping up that yummy dressing, Julia baked us a loaf of fresh gluten-free bread.

This was a good dinner party. We stayed up too late laughing too hard and playing charades, and my friends actually did all the dishes for me.

I figured out a great trick for prepping pears for poaching: use an ice cream scoop! Very clever, very easy. See?

Pears Poached in White Wine, Sherry, and Ginger with Rosemary

Bosc Pears (a half per person)
White Wine
Sweet Sherry
Fresh Ginger, peeled and sliced (about 2 slices per person)
Fresh Rosemary Sprig
1 Tbs. Butter
Raw Pure Cane Sugar
Whipped Cream or Creme Fraiche (or a mixture of both!) for serving

Peel the pears, slice in half, then hollow out the center using an ice cream scoop (or a sturdy metal spoon) as picture above.

Put the prepared pears and ginger slices in a heavy pot and pour enough white wine over so that the pears are almost submerged. Now add a splash of sherry. Cook, covered, over low heat, for about an hour, until the pears are soft and the steam no longer smells alcoholic. Set aside until ready to serve.

Heat the butter in a skillet until frothing, then fry the rosemary sprig just until crisp, about a minute. Immediatly dredge the rosemary in a handful of sugar, and set aside to cool.

Pour the remaining poaching juices out of the poaching pot into a small saucepan and add some sugar. The amount of sugar you add should about equal the amount of poaching liquid. So if you have about a cup of liquid, add about a cup of sugar, then heat over high heat, stirring occasionally, until it starts to get syrupy, about 10 minutes.

To serve, spoon the hot syrup over the pears, add a dollop of whipped cream, and garnish with a sprinkle of rosemary leaves ( and any rosemary-scented sugar that may have fallen off the rosemary sprig).

Gluten-Free Pecan Puffs
Adapted from SAVEUR’s Gluten-Free Vanilla Crescent Cookies
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies

6 oz pecans, finely ground
13 Tbs unsalted butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup confectioners sugar, plus more for finishing the cookies
1 1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/3 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup chestnut flour
generous pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 325°.

Cream the butter and the 1/3 cup confectioners sugar until soft, then stir in the vanilla.

Stir the pecans, all the flours, and the salt into the butter mixture, and mix well.

Roll the dough into 2 tsp size balls and place evenly on a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet.

Bake until the cookies are just barely starting to brown, about 15 minutes.

While still warm, roll each cookie in the confectioners sugar then let cool completely on a cooling rack.

I like to dust all the finished cookies with a bit of extra confectioners sugar through a fine sieve for a smooth finish before serving.

Look what Marta found at the Park Slope Food Coop! No, we did nothing to this spud, it actually grew that way in the shape of a heart. Now, what do we do with it? What would you do with a heart-shaped potato? I feel like it might be sacrilege to slice it…

This cheesecake was really lovely for several reasons, but the most revolutionary part of it was the crust. This crust may have just changed the way I will make cheesecakes forever, and I’m so glad I stumbled upon the recipe in Fany Gerson’s cookbook My Sweet Mexico, that inspired it. I’ve always loved the buttery ginger flavor of my gluten-free ginger snap crust, and that was the recipe I always fell back on when making cheesecake, but the truth is that the texture was always a bit off. It was a little soggy, a little crumbly, and oftentimes very hard to remove from the pan. This hazelnut crust had no such issues. It was toothsome and held it’s shape wonderfully and (miracle of miracles) actually slid easily off the bottom of my springform pan so I could serve it on the cake stand instead of cutting it off the pan. Hazelnuts, butter, sugar, and flour – basically it’s cookie dough. This crust tastes and behaves very much like a nice thick hazelnut cookie, which was a good base for the fluffier than usual cheesecake filling that I scented with a hint of cinnamon, inspired by Fany Gerson’s recipe. Gerson’s cheesecake included a recipe for chile-spiced quince to use as a topping. I didn’t have any fresh quince, but I had some cranberries in my fridge I wanted to use, so I created a chili-spiced cranberry syrup to serve with the cheesecake. Unfortunately I forgot to take photos before the sauce got polished off. The tang of the cranberries and subtle spice from the chilies were an exciting counterpart to the creamy cheesecake, but as I discovered while eating the leftovers and taking these photos today, the cheesecake is just as good on its own.

Luckily, I guessed right when I choose to make cheesecake for Franca’s birthday yesterday. She beamed and whispered that she’d secretly been hoping for a cheesecake as soon as she noticed it. Eight of us ate around my table here in the kitchen last night to celebrate Franca’s birthday. We had an apple-sweetened butternut squash soup, thick and creamy (but with no actual cream) that Marta and I cooked with white wine and thyme and one little potato (for added starch) then pureed with our immersion blender (perhaps my favorite kitchen tool). Continuing with the apple theme, I baked up a batch of these amazing apple, gruyere, and sage muffins from the blog Cannelle et Vanille (if you don’t already know of this blog, please have a look – she has wonderful gluten-free recipes). The muffins were just the thing to dunk in the soup, and no one noticed that they were gluten-free. We followed our soup with a big mess of salad (not unlike this one) bursting with feta, roasted golden beets, cooked barely, French lentils, candied pecans, and a dill pesto dressing. And then of course we sang a chorus of “Happy Birthday” and dug into this cake.

Cheesecake with Hazelnut Crust and Spiced Cranberry Syrup
serves 10-12
adapted from My Sweet Mexico by Fany Gerson

Note: I used spelt flour for my version of hazelnut crust, but I think an all purpose gluten-free flour would work just fine too, or a whole wheat flour.

for the crust:
3/4 cup hazelnuts
1/4 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup spelt flour
generous pinch of salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the cake pan

for the filling:
1 1/2 pounds cream cheese (3 (8 oz.) packages), at room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
2 tsp cornstarch
4 eggs, at room temperature

for the syrup (optional):
6 oz fresh cranberries
3 pieces lemon peel
2 dried arbol chiles
1/2  cup brown sugar (plus more if needed)
3  cups orange juice (plus more if needed)

Preheat the oven to 350.

To make the cheesecake:

In a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, heat the hazelnuts until they are fragrant and start to darken, about five minutes, then transfer to a bowl and let cool.

Generously butter a 9 by 3-inch springform pan

Combine the brown sugar, flour, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Use your fingers to remove as much of the hazelnut skins as possible (but don’t worry about getting them all off if they’re being difficult) then add the hazelnuts to the food processor and pulverize until the hazelnuts are are coarsely ground,  about a minute. Add the butter, pulsing until the dough comes together in a ball. If the dough is not adhering, add a splash of cold water then pulse again.

Turn the dough out into the buttered pan, and press it down in an even layer, then bake until golden, about 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before adding the filling.

While the crust bakes, place the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and beat until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the white sugar, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, sour cream, and cornstarch, then beat until smooth, about another 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed and scraping down the sides of the bowl between each addition. Make sure there are absolutely no lumps in the batter, then pour it into the crust (once it’s cooled).

Place the filled pan on top of a baking sheet to catch any drips, then bake until the filling is just set and the top of the cake golden brown, about an hour. Give the cake a good jiggle, and if it still wiggles too much in the middle, give it a bit more time in the oven. Let the cake cool completely on a wire rack; it will finish setting while it cools.

Refrigerate until ready to serve. Before serving, remove the edge of the springform pan, then run a knife around the bottom of the crust and very gently slide the cake off the bottom of the pan onto a serving plate.

To make the syrup (optional):

In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the cranberries, lemon peel, chiles, sugar, and 2 cups of the orange juice until boiling. Turn down the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the mixture is thick and has reduced in volume by about half. Remove from heat, and force the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a medium bowl, using a rubber spatula to press out as much juice as possible. Discard the skins and pulp that remains, then pour the juice back into the saucepan. Add the additional cup of orange juice, mix well, then bring the sauce to a boil again. Turn down the heat and let simmer another 10 minutes or so, until the syrup is nice and thick. Taste it, and add more sugar if needed. If the sauce gets too thick, add a bit more orange juice before serving.

Drizzle each slice of cheesecake with syrup before serving.