Food books.

Books are probably the collective item that have made me happiest in my life.  I've been an avid reader since I was little.  In recent years I have tried to branch out a bit and try and balance my favourite kind of reading (trash crime novels) with good quality writing.  Food writers now take up some space on my shelves; Ruth Reichl and Jeffrey Steingarten are two favourites.  Ruth writes beautifully and frankly, drawing mainly on her own life and Jeffrey writes with the kind of compelling intensity best demonstrated by his food experiments: creating a meat aging locker out of his refrigerator, with an electric fan jammed inside to maintain humidity and air flow.

In New Zealand I get my food writing pleasure by reading either Cuisine Magazine, or Ray McVinnie's weekly offering in the Sunday Star-Times.  I've been so pleased to see him on Masterchef.  Now I can imagine his voice when reading his work!

I was particularly pleased to come across the Penguin 'Great Food' series at Moore Wilsons the other day.
They are collections of food essays, mainly American writers who have published in the New Yorker or New York Times.  Titles I purchased:

Calvin Trillin 'Eating with the Pilgrims'
Dr A W Chase 'Buffalo Cake and Indian Pudding.'
Hannah Glasse 'Everlasting Syllabub and the Art of Carving' (English book for housewives in the eighteenth century)
Pellegrino Artusi 'Exciting Food for Southern Types.' (Italian cooking from the nineteenth century)

Like all Penguin books, the titles are very reasonably priced - these were $12 each.

I keep rediscovering how awesome our local library is too.   I've been downloading ebooks from their site, and instead of going to online bookstores to purchase books that I just have to read, I've been reserving them online.  Each week when I go to the library there is another reserve waiting for me.  It is great.  This week I've reserved 'Charcuterie' as I'm keen to find out more about meat preserving.  My very short online researching tells me that this is the definitive guide.  Since it costs $80 to buy I think I'll keep the peace and just borrow this one!

Smug carrot cake

I call this my smug carrot cake because I made the cream cheese icing myself with my Mad Millie kit!  This is another Ray McVinnie instant classic, I made it today and everyone went nuts for it.  Carrot cake can be quite ordinary, but this version transforms carrot cake into something other-worldly!  Ray's version is gluten free.  Mine is gluten.  I'll note my other changes too.

Ray McVinnie's Carrot Cake (Sunday Star-Times, 10 April 2011)

3/4 cup rice flour
1/4 cup corn flour  (I replaced these first two with a cup of flour)
1/2 cup ground almonds
1/1/2 cups caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda (measure really carefully, you don't want that soapy taste from using too much)
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 TBSP ground cinammon (I only had half a TBSP left so made it up with mixed spice)
1 TBSP ground ginger
1 cup walnut pieces (use really good quality walnuts.  I only had 3/4 cup so I added half a cup of sultanas)
3/4 cup dessicated coconut (I only had the long stuff)
3/4 cup grapeseed or vege oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups grated carrot
3/4 cup crushed pineapple, well drained.

Preheat the oven to 180C.  Butter a 23cm-diametre loose bottomed cake tin and line with paper (I decided to use a 20cm tin and make some cupcakes at the same time).
Place the dry ingrediants in a bowl and mix well.  Add all the rest and mix well. Pour into the tin and place in the oven for 45-50mins until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and cool completely.
When cool, remove from tin and cut in half so that you have two layers.   Spread half of the icing between the two layers, then put the rest on the top.

Icing:

3.5cups icing sugar
100g softened butter (I used my freshly made cream cheese)
zest and juice of 2 lemons (I used 3 - I like it runnier)

Mix until smooth.

Ray McVinnie is awesome.

Ray is my fav.  Every now and then one of his recipes leaps out, grabs me and demands that I make it.  In this week's Sunday Star-Times he published a recipe called Torta Di Mele (Apple Cake).  He describes it as '...simply a batter holding together sliced apples.'  What a gift this man has - I consider him a fantastic writer, as well as an inspired cook.  The research into different cuisines, as well as the techniques he use mean that his recipes are lovely to read, and often a real joy to cook.

I made this within four hours of reading the recipe!  It is delicious, and would be awesome with cream or yoghurt.  It was just as nice the next day, and the fennel makes it really interesting.  A classic for a cold Sunday afternoon or evening.

Torta Di Mele - Apple Cake  (Ray McVinnie, Sunday Star-Times 10 April 2011)

100g butter
100g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
3 eggs (I used size 7)
1tsp vanilla extract
zest of 1 lemon
2 tsp fennel seeds
100g flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 apples, peeled, cored, thinly sliced (I used granny smith)

Preheat the oven to 180C.  Butter and paper the bottom and sides of a 23cm diametre loose bottomed cake tin.  Beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy.  Beat in the eggs one at a time.   Stir in the vanilla, zest, fennel, flour and baking powder, then stir in the apple slices.  Allow to sit for ten minutes, then sprinkle well with sugar, place in the oven and bake for 45-50 mins until very well cooked.  Remove from the oven and serve in wedges warm or cold.  It is best to slightly overcook the cake as the juice from the apples will make it wet when cold.