Some of my Favorite Things: Shakespeare, David Bowie, Glamrock and Lemon Cake

Marjolaine as Sebastian and Lauren as Olivia singing Ch Ch Ch Changes with the amazing cast by Bowie

 

Photo by Beth Krieger                   

Today I volunteered to make dinner for 35 people.
My daughter is performing in a play at her school this week. It is a Glamrock Twelfth Night by Shakespeare with David Bowie songs. The upper school's illustrious Theatre Director Margie's  amazing idea. The rehearsals run late in the beginning of this week so dinner is necessary. The performances start Thursday evening. It is early in the morning and I am busy pondering what to make for their dinner. Healthy, delicious, something high schoolers would like, not too fattening , some are vegefruitiens.....gotta come up with something great for these amazing kids and their equally amazing faculty mentors... they all work so hard and do an incredible job!
Wonder how this will evolve this time?
So I decided to make French lentils. Saffron brown rice, roasted red peppers, carrots and potatoes, salad with balsamic vinaigrette and my lemon pound cake. Hope they like it!

My daughter gave a full report... They all loved everything! Whew, I had a tough audience. I am delighted!  I decided the lemon cake would be a nice recipe to blog about.

This is actually the same lemon cake I made a while back when I made cakes and tartes for the farmer's market in Martha's Vineyard. I had a terrific following! Here is the recipe. I have a Beaterblade attachment for my Kitchen Aid and it is a terrific tool. It makes it possible to mix cakes without having to scrape the bowl. I love this thing!

Lemon Cake

2 sticks softened butter

2 cup sugar

4 large eggs

zest and juice of 2 lemons

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

2 tsps. baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk

Method

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour one high 8" cake pan or  two 5" x 9" loaf pans.

In an electric mixer, with the paddle attachment cream the softened butter with  the sugar and beat about 1-2 minutes on medium speed until the mixture is light and pale in color. Add the eggs one at a time.  Combine the 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water in a small sauce pan.  Bring to a boil, remove from the heat and add the zest from 1 lemon. Sift together the baking powder, salt and flour.  Add the vanilla to the buttermilk. Add 1/3 of the sifted flour mixture alternating 1/3 of the buttermilk to the butter sugar and egg mixture until all the parts are combined. Then add the juice of 1 lemon. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35-45 minutes until it is golden brown in color and the edges of the cake have pulled away from the sides of the pan and the top is firm when it is touched and does not indent. Add the juice of 1 lemon to the to the lemon zest syrup once it has cooled. Let  the cake cool for 15 minutes. Unmold and place on the rack. Spoon the syrup on both sides of the cake while it is still warm. Place on an attractive serving platter . Slice and serve when completely cool.

 This is the recipe, 2x.

Recipe, photos and text by Karen Pickus

Courtesy Karen Pickus 2010

The weekend April 17 and 18

Saturday I made a fruit jumble for my friend who is recouperating from surgery. She titled it. It is composed of dried Turkish apricots, dried pitted organic plums and Hunza raisins... they are a beautiful green, very dense, sweet and quite dry. They happen to be my favorite raisins. They are grown organically in the Himalayas. This jumble is a delicious accompaniment to Greek yogurt or vanilla ice cream if you dare!

Dried Fruit Jumble

2 cups dried apricots
2 cups dried pitted plums

2 cups dried golden or Hunza raisins  
2 cups water
1 cup  orange juice
1 cup dry vermouth
1/2 cup honey
2 cinnamon sticks
zest of 1 orange
zest of 1 lemon
1 vanilla bean split lengthwise or 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Method

 Place all of the ingredients if using vanilla bean into a 3-4 quart sauce pan. If you are using vanilla extract don't include until the jumble cools, stir gently with a large spoon.
Bring quickly to a boil . Then cover and lower the heat to simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally about 1 to 1  1/2 hours until the fruit is tender, but not falling apart, and the liquid is syrupy.
Let cool and add vanilla
Serve warm with yogurt or  vanilla ice cream.

On Sunday my daughter and I were looking at Vogue together and came across this amazing watch... She was so taken with it and so was I so I decided to take some photos.
Here are some of the shots I got!

 Writing, recipe and photos by Karen Pickus
Courtesy Karen Pickus 2010

April 16 on GMA Sara Moulton, our guest chef

Margo, now Sr. Broadcast Producer, Me, Chef/Food Stylist, Maria, Food Segment Producer, Sara Celebrity Chef. Eddie our illustrious stage manager took this shot. Thanks Eddie!

Sara Moulton was in today to celebrate her new book. Sara and I go way back... a long time ago me met when I applied for a job at La Tulipe restaurant in Greenwich Village.  I knocked at the steel gate of the restaurant and this bubbly blond answered the door. She was so amused by my friendly handshake when we first met that fateful day on the steps of La Tulipe and became fast friends ever since. We worked together there as "mighty mights" her husband Bill would call us. Later, Sara brought me in to GMA, when she was the chef, to use my baking skills, for the first time, to make a Reine de Saba for Julia Child when she was the food correspondent on GMA. Sonia Selby Wright was the food segment producer at that time. After that, I would come in from time to time when Sara needed extra help for certain segments, and when she was on maternity leave I filled in for her. When she went to the food network she recommended I replace her as the Chef at GMA. By that time Margo became the food segment producer and we have all worked together ever since. The rest is history.

Steve, our friendly photographer taking this shot of the Salmon I made for Sara's demo for the GMA recipe website. I took these shots of Steve taking the salmon and then I shot the salmon I made for this blog!

                                                          Eddie cuing Sara for a live shot.

                                      The Anchors, Ju Ju and Steve enjoying the food during the segment.

                               

After the show we went to Maialino for breakfast to celebrate and had these delicious ricotta crepes among other wonderful things!

Photos and writing by Karen Pickus

Courtesy Karen Pickus 2010

Nice shots taken on 4/15

Shots of Me and Emeril taken by Ida, our illustrious photographer courtesy of Ida Astute

                                                         Emeril, Maria, and Me

Lunch Sandwich with Doug

  Drizzle the semolina bread with red wine vinegar. 

 

Top with lovely arugula leaves and piccio peppers.

Top with ham and Genoa salami.

Top with Swiss Cheese

The Finished Sandwich

This is the sandwich I made with
Apple Gate Farm cured meats and cheeses.

Photos, writing and recipe by Karen Pickus

Courtesy Karen Pickus 2010

This morning on GMA we did a segment on salad.

Here you can see my hands tossing the salad on the Jumbotron in Times Square on Good Morning America. 

It was a very busy day @GMA today. We had the Editor from Shop Smart Magazine on the show, talking about fast food salads. I had to reconstruct salads from 6 fast food chains plus show how to make your own salads at home with all the fixin's and set up how to make dressing. Joe, my right hand, was in rare form today so I thought I would reward him with a few shots of his amazing self. Katie the producer for the segment asked me to toss the salad for the 8 o'clock open. I was delighted to oblige. Robin liked a few of the salads from the segment, so I brought some up to her dressing room with Quiana's (Robin's producer) help. On the way I was startled by Katie's good cheer and proceeded to drop the dressing all over the floor and walls of the corridor. Katie and Ali cleaned it up without a moments hesitation and with such kindness in there usual joking manner. They came back to the office in my car and I was able to get these beautiful shots of these adorable and gifted girls!

Katie and Ali in the back

Tracy up front in the car

Photos and text by Karen Pickus

Courtesy of Karen Pickus 2010

Tips of the day, I would like to share with my readers.

#1 The other night I only had unsweetened chocolate in the cupboard and I wanted to make chocolate sauce, so I scalded 1/2 cup of milk with 4Tbs. sugar, make sure the sugar disolves, take the pan off the fire, then I whisked in 8 ounces of chopped chocolate to make a velvety chocolate sauce for my homemade ice cream. Add more milk if necessary to get desired consistency.



#2When opening a tricky bottle.... use a nutcracker to twist it open. Like my husband did with this maple syrup bottle. He thought of it!


#3  If you have trouble putting a cork back in a wine bottle use a beer cap. The bottle must be kept upright and it won't seal it like a cork but at least it will keep the contents covered. My husbands tip.


#4 When making polenta, if you make it with haste, and it seems a bit lumpy, like I did the other night, carefully place the contents in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Then place back into the pot and continue cooking.

Photos, text and drawing by Karen Pickus
Courtesy Karen Pickus 2010

Oaty Scones

It is Sunday morn and I have a hankering to make scones. So I thought it might be fun to try to make them with oat flour, rolled oats, buttermilk, and riddled with raisins 'cause my husband loves 'em.  It is a dreary, rainy morning. Day light savings, to boot! (Spring ahead). Let's say I need something to brighten every corner.  Follow me into my kitchen so we can get started.

                                                                                                                          

Ingredients

2 cups oat  flour
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 tsp. coarse grain sea salt
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 1/2-2 cups raisins

1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup rolled oats

Method

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place a sheet of parchment on an 18x24 inch sheet pan.
Combine the oat flour, the sea salt and the baking powder in a medium size bowl, with a wire whisk.
Toss in the raisins and the rolled oats with your hand.

Combine the buttermilk and maple syrup right in the liquid measuring cup.
Pour over the already mixed dry ingredients. Use a rubber scraper to make sure you add all of the syrup. Combine with your hand until the dough forms a mass. Place on a lightly oat floured board.
Knead only a few times until the dough comes together. Pat into a 7-8 inch round. Pat the top with a slightly wet hand. Press on the remaining 1/4 cup of oats.
Cut into 8 equal wedges.
Place on the parchment with a lightly oat floured metal spatula equa-distant apart.
Put into the hot oven and bake for 13-18 minutes, until golden on the bottom and when you break them open they have a bread-like consistancy and not sticky. Let cool slightly and serve with tea, coffee, jam and butter, or alone. Put the remaining cooled scones in a resealable plastic bag. Store in the freezer (a pastry chef's best friend) if there are any left, and serve warmed up another day.

Recipe and Photos and Text by Karen Pickus
Courtesy Karen Pickus 2010

Some more about GMA behind the scenes on 3/12

You know it takes a village to put on a show like this, in case one was not aware by now. Here are more of the illustrious members of this wonderful village. ( This does not yet include everyone, although I am gonna continue to give it  my best shot!

Here I am telling Sam how to make the dressing I put on the salad. Eddie,  Amazing Stage Manager , took this photo.
1 part red wine vinegar to 3 parts the incredible olive oil, some coarse grain sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. That's it! The greens and vegetables were

baby spinach, romaine, frisee' arugula and radicchio. Sliced cukes, grape tomatoes, red, yellow and orange peppers.

Emeril took this shot of me getting the table ready for the tips, that will air next week.
Mary, and Eddie are there too!

Photos except where stated by, Karen Pickus
Text and recipe by Karen Pickus
Courtesy Karen Pickus, 2010

3/12 Continued

We also had the pleasure of Having Becky Worley do a segment today. She has the most cheery on air disposition, and presents some of the most interesting and cutting edge info.

              Here is Becky hamming it up before the segment.

 

                                             Becky painting the wall with her special sponge

                                           Becky presents to Robin with interested audience members looking on.

Photos except where stated by Karen Pickus
Text by Karen Pickus

Courtesy Karen Pickus 2010