Countdown to CSA

71 days until I pick up my first CSA share from One Straw Farm. Can't wait!

Bake!

They say you aren't supposed to judge a book by its cover but I usually do anyway. And judging from the cover of Nick Malgieri new book "Bake!: Essential Techniques for Perfect Baking" (Kyle Books, 2010), which features six perfect loaves of bread and a luscious looking raspberry tart on the cover, this book looks like a keeper.

But it was something Malgieri wrote in his introduction that really won me over. "Please don't buy into the fallacy that 'baking is a science'," he wrote. "You'll only end up intimidating yourself." The author, who has more than 30 years of experience teaching people how to bake and is the former executive pastry chef at Windows on the World, goes on to explain that hundreds of everyday processes that people often use, like driving a car or using the telephone, can be explained using strict scientific principles, but we take those processes for granted and aren't afraid of them."Baking needn't be any more difficult than a phone call," he concludes. "You just need to know what to do in order to do it successfully every time."

To parapharse the inimitable David Cassidy: Nick Malgieri, I think I love you.

Finally someone who speaks my language. I'm a good cook but the fussiness of many baking cookbooks really turns me off. If you think I'm going to wade my way through a four page cake recipe when a one pager turns out a product that's just as delicious, you're wrong. "Bake!," which has lots of step by step photos, does a great job of explaining technique. The recipes are well-written and straightforward. And Nick Malgieri is a really interesting guy, who, get this, doesn't weigh his ingredients. He just scoops and levels. Cue the sound of angels rejoicing please.

I recently had the opportunity to meet Nick at a potluck event for Baltimore area food bloggers and he was as gracious and down to earth as his recipes are. The evening, hosted by Julie Thorne and coordinated by Dara Bunjon of Dining Dish, was a casual gathering with lots of great food and wine where we got to chat with Nick and one another about a topic that's near and dear to our hearts: Food.

The best part was of course, the baked goods. There were espresso chocolate chip cookies, peppery sandwich cookies, heart shaped puffs filled with delicate pastry cream, and a moist hot milk cake dusted with powdered sugar. Nick baked two things: A chocolate bourbon cake that was rich and smooth and delicious and some Roman biscotti so deliciously crunchy and light it was difficult to eat just one. Try them yourself. And check out "Bake!" -- you won't be disappointed.

TOZZETTI: ROMAN ANISE, ALMOND, AND HAZELNUT BISCOTTI

Unlike most biscotti that are formed into narrow loaves before baking, tozzetti are spread in a pan. After the initial baking, they are cut into narrow strips and dried in the oven until shatteringly crisp.

Makes about 80 thin biscotti

2 cups all-purpose flour (spoon flour into dry-measure cup and level off)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 cups whole blanched almonds, lightly toasted
1 cup whole blanched hazelnuts, lightly toasted
3 large eggs
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 tablespoons Sambuca liqueur
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon aniseed, crushed
One 9 x 13- x 2-inch pan, buttered and lined with buttered foil

1. Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.

2. Stir the flour and baking powder together, then stir in the almonds and hazelnuts
and set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, then whisk in the sugar, continuing to
whisk for a minute until somewhat lightened. Whisk in the liqueur, vanilla, and
aniseed. Use a large rubber spatula to stir in the flour and nut mixture.

4. Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake until just firm,
about 20-25 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack.

5. When completely cool, slide the slab of baked dough to a cutting board. Use a
sharp serrated knife to cut into three 3-inch wide bars, then cut across them to
make 1/2-inch thick biscotti. Arrange the cut biscotti on 2 paper-lined pans.

6. Dry the biscotti until very crisp but still light in color at 325 degrees for about 20
minutes. Cool and store in a tin.

Copyright © Nick Malgieri 2011, All Rights Reserved

**
CHOCOLATE BOURBON CAKE

The sweet, mellow flavor of Bourbon has a great affinity for chocolate. Serve this
unadorned cake with a little unsweetened whipped cream.

Makes one 8-inch cake, 8 to 10 servings

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (70%), cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (spoon flour into dry-measure cup and level off)
Pinch of salt
5 large eggs
3 tablespoons best-quality Bourbon
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed

One 8-inch round 2-inch deep pan, buttered, bottom lined with a disk of buttered
parchment

1. Set a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.

2. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat, allowing it to sizzle and get really hot.
Remove from heat, add chocolate and whisk smooth.

3. In a bowl, whisk the granulated sugar, flour, and salt together; add all the eggs and
Bourbon. Whisk together smoothly.

4. Stir the brown sugar into the butter and chocolate mixture and stir into the batter.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake the cake until the
center is still soft, but no longer liquid, 25 to 35 minutes.

6. Cool the cake on a rack.

7. To serve the cake, invert to a platter and remove the pan and paper. Cover loosely
with plastic wrap if not serving immediately.

Copyright © Nick Malgieri 2011, All Rights Reserved

Kale, a four letter word.

Some vegetables get no respect. Sure if you are corn and potatoes and anything else that can be drenched with butter and tarted up with cheese, you're easy to love. Or bathe a vegetable in olive oil and roast at a high temperature until it caramelizes and you've got yourself another winner. Yes squash, kohlrabi and parsnip, I am definitely talking to you.

And then there's kale. Ahhh kale. I've tried to love you. I've put you in soup with sausage and white beans, made you into chips kissed with salt and cider vinegar, tried you raw. It's not working kale. I think we need an intervention.

I've gotten my husband and two kids to like broccoli (Melissa Clarke's Sesame-Cured Raw Broccoli Salad: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/dining/201arex.html ). They inhale Swiss chard (http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/skillet_gnocchi_with_chard_white_beans.html). And they like collards cooked low and slow with Truck Patch Farm bacon http://truckpatchfarms.com/index.html.

But kale, you disappoint. Your flavor is too harsh, too green, two kaleish. They can sniff you out and turn up their noses in no time. And there is only so much kale one woman can eat before she admits defeat.

The other night I went to a meeting of a parent group trying to get the county schools to serve healthier lunches. As I was leaving my husband and kids were shouting suggestions of foods I should be lobbying for. The words that followed me out the door were these, "Whatever you do," my husband said, "don't tell them we need more kale."