Blueberry Lemon Polenta Cake

naomi — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 23:31:33 +0000

I have been writing this blog for a whole year now. It started on a rainy New York day just like today. I talked about graham crackers and language, two of my favorite things in the world. It’s been a simple but monumental year, teaching, traveling, and almost finishing my Master’s degree (just one more month!). It’s been nice having this little piece of virtual space, a sort of mental garden. It’s been a place to write something other than academic papers, to try out new recipes, and experiment with photography. I have been so grateful to hear your voices in the comments. It’s been fun and I hope to be able to post more (and more regularly) in the coming year.

Today I have a lovely cake for us. Something simple, easy to throw together and delicious to eat. It all started with this post by Olga over at the Sassy Radish. I made the cake and loved it, tangy, sweet and studded with fruit – what is there not to love? But I cannot make anything without thinking about what I will do the next time and so while I was eating one cake I was dreaming up this one in my head. It was everything I hoped it would be: soft and yielding but slightly chewy from the polenta, full of toothsome blueberries and bright bursts of lemon, a perfectly simple, rustic cake.

Blueberry Lemon Polenta Cake
adapted from Gourmet Today

1/4 cup water
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup + 1/2 cup sugar
2 cups blueberries
grated zest of one lemon
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup polenta*
1-3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup whole milk
1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Grease an 8″ square pan.

Stir together the water, cornstarch, lemon juice and 1/3 cup sugar in a small saucepan. Stir in the blueberries and bring to a simmer. Simmer about three minutes, stirring occasionally.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, lemon zest, and the remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a bowl.

Whisk together the milk, egg, and melted butter in a large bowl. Whisk in the flour mixture until just combined.

Reserve 1/2 cup of the blueberry mixture, and pour the remainder into the baking dish. Pour the batter over the fruit and spread the mixture evenly. Spoon the reserved fruit over the batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

*I used polenta because it was what I had in my cupboard but feel free to use regular cornmeal.

Pistachio Cake

naomi — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:19:38 +0000

Last year, after I whined about the price of nuts in New York, my mom said she’d see if she could get me some nuts wholesale through one of her suppliers (if you didn’t know, she has a shop in Los Angeles). A month or so later, a guy comes by and delivers a 25-pound box of nuts, half almonds, half pistachios. 25 pounds! I got a bunch of bags and portioned out the nuts and stacked them in the freezer. We made it through the almonds fairly quickly, a short roast in the oven and they made a perfect snack. The pistachios however, lingered. Maybe it’s the shelling, and the fact that we’re lazy, or the mess that we make eating them. I’m not sure why, but a year later we still have the better part of 12-1/2 pounds of lovely bright green pistachios in our freezer. That is about to change. . . .

When we left for our European vacation this winter we asked our komsije (neighbors) if they could check our mail and keep an eye on the apartment. When I came back, not only were there piles of mail of the coffee table, but there were also gifts. This was my gift. It’s a nut grinder our komsinica’s mom sent from Croatia. I had been big-eyeing this cake for a while, but never could make it because I had no way of grinding the pistachios into a flour. You can imagine how happy I was to have that problem solved once and for all. It wasn’t long before this cake was coming out of my oven.

How sad that I had to wait so long! This cake is delicious on it’s own and is perfect with a cup of tea. It tastes like you set out to make a middle eastern pastry, but instead of layering the philo dough and nuts you ground it all together and made a cake. It is very moist, and not too sweet, with a toothsome, nutty crumb and ever so slightly perfumed by the rose water.

Pistachio Cake
Adapted from Breakfast•Lunch•Tea*

Don’t be put off by the large amount of rosewater, it has such a delicate flavor you hardly taste it. If you can’t find rosewater or just really hate it, you can substitute 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.

This is a fairly large cake, next time I might divide it between two pans and freeze one for later. However, we ate it over the course of a week and it was nearly as good on the last day as it was on the first.

for the cake:
250 g (about 2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
225 g (1 cup) sugar
grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp rosewater
4 eggs
100 g (1 cup) ground almonds
100 g (1 cup) ground pistachios
50 g (1/3 cup) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

for the glaze:
50 g (1/2 cup) pistachios, whole or chopped
50 g (1/4 cup sugar
juice and zest of one lemon

Preheat the oven to 350º F. Butter and flour a 10″ round cake pan.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Mix in the lemon zest and rosewater. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.

fold in the ground almonds, ground pistachios, flour, baking powder and salt.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for about 40 minutes or until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.

To make the glaze, heat the pistachios, sugar, lemon juice and zest in a saucepan over low heat until the sugar has dissolved and pour it over the cake.

*My aunt and uncle gave me this book for my birthday several years ago. I loved the book and visited Rose Bakery when I was in Paris in 2007. It is a very hip place with really good food, and though I’m not a Vegetarian myself, they have a lot of Vegetarian options on the menu, which is nice. A year or two later, an old friend (my roommate in college) moved to Paris for grad school. He sent me an email telling me he’d got a job at this place, the Rose Bakery, did I know it? Did I ever! I had the shortbread from this cookbook in my oven as I typed my response.

the honey eater » cake

Blueberry Lemon Polenta Cake

Pistachio Cake