plums in the icebox

roasted grapes

 

Have you ever had roasted grapes? I'm obsessed with roasting things, so when I saw a salad with roasted grapes on the menu at a restaurant in my new neighborhood, I knew I had to try them for myself.  I asked the woman behind the counter and she said they just roast them with olive oil and salt and pepper. Google told me this is a common method, so off I went to roast myself some grapes.

Roasted Grapes

total time: 20 minutes

total hands on time: 5 minutes

What you'll need:

Fresh grapes of your choice (I used green, obviously, but I would love to try both red and green next time)

a little over 1 tbsp olive oil

salt

pepper

What you'll do:

1. Preheat your oven to 400.

2. Place the grapes (still on the vine, if you so choose) in a roasting pan or dish and drizzle with olive oil. Add salt and pepper.

 

 

3. Roast for 15 minutes. You will hear them sizzling in the oven!

 

I ate my roasted grapes in a salad with crumbled goat cheese and spinach, which was perhaps the most simple and delicious lunch I've had in months. I knew the grapes would go perfectly with goat cheese, but the oil and moisture from the grapes canceled out the need for any additional dressing, too! If I ever host a party again (unlikely, based on the miniscule size of my new apartment) roasted grapes will be holding court on the appetizer platter. 

 

 

 

Can you think of any other dishes roasted grapes might be good in? They are delicious by themselves, of course. But other than eating them in a salad or alongside cheese and crackers, what do you think? Taking any and all ideas for the leftovers currently hanging out in my fridge.

clementine cake

I have wanted to make a clementine cake ever since I saw Smitten Kitchen's version of the famous Nigella Lawson cake. It's still the tail-end of clementine season, and I recently acquired a springform cake pan, so the time seemed right (and ripe). I planned, last night, that I would get up early today and start making the cake.

And then I dreamed of the cake. What can I say? This is my life. It's weird. I dream about cake now, apparently. I dreamed that I made this cake, this clementine cake, and that it wasn't sweet enough. In the dream I was disappointed that my long-awaited cake didn't live up to my expectations.

So when I woke up this morning I decided to modify the recipe in hopes that it would be sweet enough. If something comes to you in a dream, you should trust it. Right? I added some more sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla.

Lucky for me, the cake came out absolutely perfect. Like, perfect. I am not that great of a baker, so I was pleasantly surprised; I actually think this is my favorite thing I have ever baked. Clementine cake is light and moist and sweet and orange-flavored but not in an overwhelming way (and it's totally gluten-free, an added bonus!).

Clementine Cake

adapted from Care2.com

makes 6-8 servings

total time: about 3 hours

total hands on time: less than 1o minutes

What you'll need:

6 clementines

6 eggs

2 and 1/3 cups almond meal (ground almonds)

2 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

What you'll do:

1. Preheat your oven to 375.

2. Put the clementines (skins on!) in a saucepan with plenty of water, at least half of the pot full. Make sure you take the little stem nubbins off.

3. Bring the clementines and water to a boil, then turn down and simmer for two hours.

4. Pour off the water. Once they're cool to the touch,  slice in half and remove seeds from clementines.

5. Put fruit (again, skins on!) into the food processor and blend.

6. Add all other ingredients and blend until well-mixed. The batter should be a light orange color. Pour it into the springform pan.

7. Bake at 375 and check it at 40 minutes. Mine was pretty much done, but I put some foil on top and baked it for another ten. Insert a toothpick and if it comes out clean, it's done. 

After I poured off the water I used to boil the fruit, it occurred to me that it would have been perfect to use it to make a glaze for this delicious cake. I'll remember that for next time, but if you make this, save the water and make a glaze!

my book, PRETTY TILT

I haven't mentioned this at all here on Plums in the Icebox, but my first book of poetry, PRETTY TILT, will be published on March 27th! The book has absolutely nothing to do with food and everything to do with teenage girlhood. If you're interested, you can preorder it directly from the publisher, Keyhole Press, here. I also have a Tumblr promoting the book, if you'd like to see some words and images inspired by the poems (and that inspired me to write the poems).

Back to regular recipe content ASAP. I moved this week and my new kitchen is a mess, but I'm hoping to be cooking again in a few days.

gina abelkop's malva pudding

This is the fourth entry in my Writers Eat series. I'm asking writers I admire to share their favorite recipes and/or foods here on Plums in the Icebox. The food will sometimes tie in with the writer's work, but sometimes not. If you're a writer and you're interested in participating, let me know!

I had never heard of Malva Pudding before poet Gina Abelkop said she was going to make it for this series. Apparently it's a classic Afrikaner dessert; Malva Pudding uses apricot, which isn't an ingredient I usually cook with, but this recipe looks so good I am going to run out and get some apricot jam ASAP.

Gina is one of my favorite people, even though I've never actually met her (that's going to change soon thanks to AWP 2012!). She was kind enough to publish my chapbook MEET THE LAVENDERS through her feminist press, Birds of Lace, and since then we've become Internet besties. We like all the same things, like mascarpone cheese, Fiona Apple, the movie She's the Man, fashion, small dogs, and our old LiveJournals. I love this poem of hers, which appeared in Everyday Genius in 2012. One of my favorite things about Gina is that she's a tireless champion of art of all kinds; her enthusiasm for writing and art and music and fashion and everything creative comes across so strongly, even through Twitter. She's continually making art herself, too; Gina made limited-edition pins for the release of my chapbook and hand screenprinted posters for her own book. She also co-edits the online magazine Prayers for Children. 

Gina's first book of poems was just published by Apostrophe Books. Her manuscript for DARLING BEASTLETTES won the 2011 Apostrophe manuscript contest and I've heard firsthand how incredible her the book is. 

**

The recipe is from my mom, who got it from my grandmother, who got it from a restaurant in South Africa. Here is the recipe:

Malva Pudding

serves 4-5

total time: approx 1 hr 20 minutes

total hands on time: approx 20 minutes

Ingredients: 

1 cup sugar 

1 egg 

1 tbs apricot jam 

1 cup flour 

1tsp baking soda 

generous pinch of salt 

1 tbs butter 

1 tsp vinegar 

1 cup milk

for the  sauce: 

1 cup cream 

4oz butter 

1 cup sugar

half cup hot water 

Directions:

Beat the egg and sugar in mixer,  not too fast.  Add sugar and mix,  Add jam and mix. Put aside. 

Sift flour, salt, and baking soda together, and set aside.  

Melt butter, add vinegar, and milk, and set aside.  

Add the  dry ingredients alternately with the milk mixture to the egg + sugar mix,

Beat well and bake in a covered dish- either a glass cover, or you can use aluminum.  

  

Bake at 350 for approx 1 hr (note: my oven must run hot because I cooked it for maybe 35 mins and it was done. check it on after a half hour- you want it to be a golden color.) 

Boil the sauce in a pan, and pour over pudding when you take out of the oven.  Use all the sauce.  It will slowly sink in. Serve with cream poured on top.

It tastes like god. Yummm.

photos courtesy of Gina Abelkop

**

I can't wait to make this! I almost never make desserts, especially ones that involve more than a couple of steps, so this will be a fun thing to try.

I haven't gotten my hands on Gina's book yet, but I'm really excited to do so. I'll probably buy it at AWP in Chicago, where Gina and I are both participating in a reading this year. If you're going to be there, too, come see us! Do shots with us, hear us read our poems. If not, visit some of Gina's online spaces (Tumblr, blog), buy her book and enjoy her writing with a big old slice of Malva Pudding. 

eats and reads

Way overdue for one of these posts, right? Here's what I've got for you:

EATS:

South Korean cake shops are causing economic problems. via The Economist

Cheesecake-Stuffed Strawberries via The Sweets Life

I've never made crepes and I imagine it takes some practice, but here's how. via Eating Well

10 foods you didn't know you could freeze via The Daily Meal

READS:

I randomly decided to tweet a link to a poem I like every day for a month, beginning February 8th and ending March 8th. If you like, you can follow along. A hashtag would probably be easiest, but I haven't thought of a good one yet.

Fashion-related essays, art, poetry and more at The Blind Hem.

Shit Poets Say (on Twitter)

Ethel Rohan shows you how to answer when people ask you how much of your writing is autobiographical. via The Chattahoochee Review

chop chop: my skillz

So yeah, I have a food blog, but there is still MUCH I need to learn about cooking. I recently lost my job (Yuppppppp. Wanna give me a job writing or teaching people how to write? I am ON THAT!) so I've found myself with quite a bit of free time. And what else would you do when you're unemployed other than take a cooking class?!?!?! I decided to sign up for a one-time Knife Skills class last Thursday morning, because I figured I might as well learn some stuff if I'm going to have gobs of free time. 

Knife Skills seemed like a good class to begin with. I mean sure, I can cut ingredients, but I wanted to learn how to do it better, more efficiently. My mom gave me some super nice knives for Christmas and I thought it would be cool to actually learn how to properly use and take care of them. I thought I had a hold on cutting onions from watching a bunch of YouTube tutorials, but the class actually provided a lot of insight on chopping all sorts of vegetables. 

I took the class at a local kitchen store; I wasn't that into the hard sell they gave us once the class was over (THESE ARE THE KNIVES WE USED IN CLASS! YOU SHOULD BUY THEM!) but the class itself was really awesome. There were about six people in it, ranging from teenagers to an old man who literally would not stop talking. There were assistants who silently scooped away all your cutting dregs every few minutes. The chef herself was great, thin and fast-moving, with nimble fingers.  We covered sharpening knives, cleaning knives, and practiced all the basic cuts for vegetables, including mince, dice and julienne. The chef also taught us a cool method of cutting an orange, which is basically just like this:

I can already see the difference in myself when I have a knife in my hand. I'm imagining that I'm a contestant on Chopped, moving around all confidently and with purpose.  My recipe prep a is lot faster, and my dices and minces are much more uniform, so ingredients are cooking more evenly, too.  I'm having a lot of fun practicing what I learned, in between writing cover letters and combing Craigslist, of course. 

In other news, I made a Facebook page for Plums in the Icebox. Like it if you so desire!