Sticky Chocolate Cake

Last time I was in London, my primary objective may have been to snuggle up with my nephew, but I still brought a list of food places I wanted to check out, for, you know, research purposes. One of them was Ottolenghi, a deli that offers a daily selection of colorful dishes — with an emphasis on fresh produce — and dazzling pastries.

I had received a review copy of their seductive cookbook a couple of months before, and had quickly stopped tagging the recipes that appealed to me when I realized I was placing a sticker on every page. This was my kind of food, and I was eager to taste it at the source.

After baking, the cake is further stickified by a generous brushing of brandy syrup, and left to cool. This produces a voluptuous cake that is moist-crumbed and deeply aromatic (but not at all boozy).

I visited the Kensington location (now closed), which happens to be around the block from the large Whole Foods store that was also on my list. I ogled the spectacular lineup of cakes, but decided instead on an assortment of salads to eat on the Eurostar that evening.

They were delicious, though it dawned on me halfway through that the reason why these salads seemed so pleasing was that most of them were pretty sweet, incorporating dried fruits or candied nuts or a sweetish dressing. Is it always so, or was it just an oddity on that particular day? A repeat visit is in order to find out, but I thought I’d keep that penchant in mind for when I tried savory recipes from the book.

As it turns out, the recipe I tried first was for a cake — and now that I think about it, I reduced the amount of sugar in that one, too. The recipe in question is the sticky chocolate loaf on page 219: it tugged at the strings of my heart because of the happy qualifier “sticky” — always a good omen when attached to a cake name — and because it was a chocolate cake that involved prunes, which I am fond of, and always keen to rehabilitate.

I made a few further modifications to the recipe, baking it in a cake pan rather than two mini loaf pans, substituting yogurt for the oil (the original called for yogurt and oil; I used yogurt only), and using maple syrup rather than treacle.

I hope the apparent length of the recipe below won’t scare you off; this is not a complicated cake to assemble at all. Half of the prunes are blended into the batter, in which they act as a sweetener and moisture booster, while the other half is soaked in brandy and pressed into the batter. After baking, the cake is further stickified by a generous brushing of brandy syrup, and left to cool. This produces a voluptuous cake that is moist-crumbed and deeply aromatic (but not at all boozy), and one I plan to make again soon, possibly in cupcake form.

~~~

If you’d like to read more about Ottolenghi, check their blog, which features some recipes, and read Yotam Ottolenghi’s weekly column in the Guardian, The New Vegetarian.

Continue reading »

La fin des haricots

Pink coco beans

This is part of a series on French idiomatic expressions that relate to food. Browse the list of idioms featured so far.

This week’s idiom is, “La fin des haricots.”

Literally translated as, “the end of the beans,” it means that the situation is disastrous, that it’s all over, and that all hope is gone.

Sounds depressing? Wait! It is in fact a colloquial expression that is most often used humorously, with a measure of irony. It may refer to 1) a situation that really is serious, but of which the speaker is trying to make light, 2) a situation that seems terrible in the heat of the moment, but isn’t that significant in the grand scheme of things, or 3) a trivial situation, the importance of which the speaker wants to exaggerate for comic effect.

Example: “Si on perd ce client, c’est la fin des haricots !” “If we lose this client, it’s the end of the beans!” (This exemplifies usage 1 or 2, depending on how much you depend on the client.)

Listen to the idiom and example read aloud:

Continue reading »

Ca ne mange pas de pain

Starter bread

This is part of a series on French idiomatic expressions that relate to food. Browse the list of idioms featured so far.

This week’s idiom is, “Ça ne mange pas de pain.”

Literally translated as, “It doesn’t eat bread,” it is used to say that a thing or an action can’t hurt: it may never amount to much or be of much use, but if it costs nothing and entails no risk, why not?

It is a colloquial expression that is usually delivered with a shrug, and when spoken, the ne and the de are often swallowed, so that you will hear it as, “Ça mange pas d’pain.”

Example: “Passe un coup de fil à ton médecin, ça ne mange pas de pain !” “Give your doctor a call, it doesn’t eat bread!”

Listen to the idiom and example read aloud:

Continue reading »

Homemade Lärabars

I have never been particularly drawn to energy bars and their spooky ingredients lists. But then I discovered the hugely popular Lärabars while in New York, and they won me over quickly.

If you’ve yet to make their acquaintance, here’s what you need to know: Lärabars (I just ignore the umlaut and say “larabar”) are compact but tender energy bars made of ground dates mixed with nuts and other flavorings (spices, dried fruits, coconut, cocoa powder…) but no added sweetener.

They come with a string of honor badges (non-GMO, gluten-free, raw, vegan, the list goes on) and in many different flavors, each with just a few of ingredients, all of them from the normal world we inhabit.

Well, how about homemade Lärabars?

The downside of such simplicity, for the company who sells them* at least, is that it doesn’t take a girl very long to think, “Hey! I could probably just make my own.” And so I did, and never looked back.

Continue reading »

Tips for a Green Kitchen

As promised yesterday, when I announced the winners of the green kitchen tip contest, I have compiled a digest of the other submissions.

I want to thank you all for taking the time to share your tips. It was an exciting feeling to have all 288 of them pour into my inbox throughout the day, proving yet again how much you care about these issues, and how hard you try to minimize your impact on the environment.

I learned a lot, too, and I will work to incorporate as many of these habits as I can into my own kitchen routine. The good news is, green often equates frugal, so now is the perfect time to put them into practice.

Some of those tips may only make a small difference, one that might seem negligible in the eye of glass-half-empty people, but small differences add up, and the important thing is the mindset: once you start to consider your actions and your surroundings with environmentally-conscious spectacles, everything matters, regardless of scale.

I will add that those tips should all be taken with a grain of salt, and a whole shaker of common sense: depending on your personal situation, location, equipment, etc. the greener choice may not always be the one suggested here.

 1. Buy Local and Seasonal
 2. Reduce Food Waste
 3. Reduce Packaging Waste
 4. Reuse Packaging and Containers
 5. Eat Fewer Animal Products
 6. Grow Your Own
 7. Compost
 8. Avoid Using Disposable Paper and Plastic Products
 9. Bring Your Own
10. Save Energy
11. Conserve Water
12. Use Natural Cleaning Products
13. Share

Continue reading »

Get the newsletter

Receive FREE email updates with all the latest recipes, plus exclusive inspiration and Paris tips. You can also choose to be notified when a new post is published.

View the latest edition of the newsletter.