Swedish Cardamom Cake | A Man Called Ove | #FoodnFlix

You never really know what's going on behind closed doors. Ove is a man who is never satisfied. He's extremely particular and practical, calling anything fancier than meat and potatoes (aka saffron) "putting Christmas into it". He is the type of man who yells at feral cats to get off of his private property, and locks bicycles in garages if they are left about. Basically, he's miserable, surly, and entirely bad-tempered.

Red Fruit Salad

Red. The color of love and passion. It's bold. It's exciting. It draws the most eyes in any crowd. It disappears first in any candy jar. So, while it's important to eat the rainbow in order to get the best variety of nutrients and antioxidants, sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind and embrace the intensity that is RED!

Who doesn't go crazy for sweet, juicy red fruit and berries at their peak? Who else has to purchase an extra pint of wild strawberries from the farmers market...just so that you'll actually have some left by the time you get home?

I've probably mentioned it a time or five before—for me, there's no season like cherry season. Is it wrong to eat one's weight in cherries? I think not.

Cardamom Pear Butter + Castello Aged Havarti Cheese Pairing

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Castello® in conjunction with Honest Cooking. All opinions are my own.

I've often waxed poetic on the subject of cheese, otherwise known as  my ultimate weakness. I could live on cheese plates alone. You know, because they're always accompanied by other good things like bread or crackers, fruits and nuts, slices of charcuterie, perfect little condiments, and of course, alcohol. Nibbles and tastes, turn into swoons and flutters, turn into claiming a cheese tray as my dinner plate. Really, what more does a person need?

I could blabber on and on about the virtues of a well thought out cheese plate, the kind that includes several cheeses and an array of complementary food and drink. Today I'm partnering with Castello® as part of their #CastelloArt campaign, so I'm going to do something a little different and feature a single cheese—Castello® Aged Havarti.

"Castello® Aged Havarti is based on the authentic Danish recipe for Havarti dating back to 1952. Made from traditional cheese methods with the addition of a special culture, the Castello® Aged Havarti is then matured for 12 months.

Cinnamon-Cardamom Buns

We eat our fair share of freshly baked bread in this house (as you well know if you hang out here at all).  Everybody has their favorites, the ones that are requested on a regular basis.  My oldest prefers pretzels, potato bread, and crusty white bread; my middle child adores cinnamon rolls of any variety; my youngest is forever asking me to make pull-apart bread of the cinnamon-sugar variety or a long loaf of Italian bread.  The hubster?  Well, he's happy with anything, as long as it's not pumpernickel or something equally dark that doesn't taste like chocolate.  He firmly believes that if bread is dark brown, it should be sweet.

Me, myself?  I have a hard time choosing.  It seems that whichever bread, roll, bun, or twist that is warm and fragrant and cooling on my counter is the one I prefer.  Most recently, these Cardamom-Cinnamon Buns.

Banana Cardamom Sandwich Bread

Can you imagine a loaf of bread eight years in the making?  Well, imagine no more because you're looking at it.  In the flesh.  It doesn't come from a well-established starter...that's not the reason behind the age.  It all started with a book.  A book that wound up in my pile after an all-out assault on my beloved library. It was summer and that meant spreading out my double-wide quilt that my grandma made years ago on the back lawn...sunblock, mini-cooler for my water bottle, sunglasses, and flip-flops spread its edges.  With a fenced yard to keep in the potential runners, I was good to kick back in the sun and get lost in another world.  The world of bread in Bread Alone (and then The Baker's Apprentice, in quick turn) by Judith Ryan Hendricks was my escape that particular week.  But reading those books left me longing to work the mad-man, wee-small-hours-of-the-morning hours that a professional (bread) baker is inclined to work.  Visions of dark, sleepy streets scented with the smell of comfort from the open back door of a tiny bakery.  Flour-dusted hair and cheeks.  Mixing, kneading, thinking, creating while most of the town is asleep.  Yes, during the time when I was lost in Wyn's (main character) world, my much-cherished hours of sleep were forgotten.  I just knew I wanted to find a bakery and convince them to take me on as a (paid) apprentice so that I could actually live in my world of escape.

Ha!  Three little ones at home.  Two of them under 2 years old.  Dream on, sister.  So I did the next best thing and ordered a copy of the book Wyn works from and is inspired by, The Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown from PaperBack Swap.  Um.  YIKES!  Way over my head.  At that time.  I was still scared of the yeasties, so a book full of formulas was like Latin to me.  No clue.  But I read it and made notes in my notebook and was determined to bake a yeasted version of banana bread that was in the book.  Only, it was sandwich bread as opposed to the snacky-breakfasty type of banana bread I was accustomed to.  Years went by and I never worked up the nerve to bake the bread.  The book hung around and took its transfer from working bookshelf to display (and consult) bookshelf.  It was packed away and moved to our new house.

Fast forward another couple of years and a familiarity and comfort with baking bread at home and working with yeast and even a sourdough starter in my fridge.  The time finally arrived when I could look at the Tassajara Bread Book without trepidation.  No fear.  Actually with a pleasant understanding...and cognition.  I wrote down the formula all over again...plugging in the ingredients I'd need to bake this bread so long in the making.  I was able to substitute flours...and swap out the original cinnamon for cardamom...and even pick the sweetener I knew I'd like best in my loaf.  It felt good.  It FEELS good.  This is sort of like a milestone for me.  It marks the fact that I am a baker.  No, not a master baker or a professional baker...a baker comfortable in her own skin and confident enough to offer up her services, if needed.  And I still have that dream of working in an active little bakery in a sleepy part of town.  Crazy?  Perhaps...

Banana Cardamom Sandwich Bread

adapted from the Tassajara Bread Book

makes 2 loaves

sponge:

2½ c. lukewarm water

1 Tbs. yeast

2 ripe bananas, mashed well or whizzed in a food processor

2 eggs, beaten

1/3 c. honey

1 c. dry milk

2 c. bread flour 

2 c. white whole wheat flour

grated peel of 2 oranges

1 Tbs. ground cardamom

Dissolve yeast in water.  Stir in bananas, eggs, honey, and dry milk.  Stir in flours, orange peel, and cardamom.  You will have a thick batter.  Beat well with a wooden spoon for ~100 strokes. Cover and let rise 60 minutes in a warm place.  Prepare to have your senses assaulted in a magnificent way.  The smell!

final dough:

1¼ Tbs. fine sea salt

½ c. melted butter

1 c. bread flour

3 c. white whole wheat flour (+ 1½-2 c. for kneading)

Now that some good gluten strands have formed from the dough's rest, you don't want to break them up...they worked so hard to get that way.  So, sprinkle the salt around the edges of your bowl, then carefully drizzle the melted butter over the top of the dough.  Carefully fold in the flour until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl, then turn out onto a floured surface and continue kneading (with the extra flour as needed) until dough is no longer sticky, ~10-15 minutes.

Form into a ball and place in a greased bowl, covered for 50 minutes.  Punch the dough down...or lift it and slap it back down into bowl.  Re-cover and let rise another 40 minutes.

Turn dough out onto work surface (didn't need any more flour at this point) and divide in half.

Flatten each half ever so gently a bit into a rectangle shape, then fold one third of the dough in...and then roll it over so that you have a loaf shape.  Grease two loaf pans and set the dough in the pans, seam side down.  Rub the top of each gently with a bit of oil.

Cover and let rise until doubled in size, ~20 minutes while oven preheats to 350° F.  Mix up some egg wash (1 egg + c. water) and brush over the top, if you like.  I did...gives it a glossy sheen.  Slash the tops and slide into the oven.  Bake for ~1 hour or until deep, golden brown.

Let sit until you can handle the pans and then turn the loaves out and finish cooling on a wire rack.

While you can make an awesome slice of toast or a great sandwich (any type, it's very versatile)...try making some bread pudding or killer French toast with this bread.  We also used it for Bread and Milk...using cinnamon-sugar as the "sprinkler".

This is not Banana Bread as you know it.  Yes, it has bananas in it.  It has "banana" in the title.  But you don't really taste banana when you bite in.  You smell it.  And you smell hints of orange and undertones of cardamom.  The banana just lends a note of sweetness that is complimented by the eggs and butter that enrich it.  Don't go in expecting your grandma's banana bread.  Because you might be disappointed.  Unless, of course, this is the type of banana bread your grandma made.  Mine didn't.  Although, I wasn't disappointed.  Flabbergasted, at first.  In awe later.  Eight years in the making.

*Yeastspotting!

Of cardamon pods...and other fortunate events

Over the past couple of months, I have been fortunate enough to be on the receiving ends of some very cool foodie giveaways...and one particularly awesome surprise gift! I'm sure most of you know what an amazing community of food bloggers are floating around...most of the people I've met are kind and giving of their time, advice, recipes and friendship. That being said I just wanted to send some quick shout-outs and thanks to several people. First of all...my surprise gift of Cardamom Pods! Thanks to the awesome Christo aka DoggyBloggy of Chez What? for sending me these beauties...A week of so ago, I had a recipe that called for cardamom seeds, but when I went out looking for them, I discovered that a tiny little bottle (something containing ~1 oz) cost in the area of $17.00! Ummmmmm...what!? Too rich for my blood. So I substituted and moved on. Well, substituted, voiced my opinion and then moved on. How awesome is it that he actually sent me a big bag full of cardamom pods to do with what I wish! I cannot wait to start making some cardamom laced sweets & savories! Thanks so much, Christo :) I recently had a delivery of this insanely HUGE basket full of goodies. I was the lucky winner of not 1, but 2 giveaways from Amanda aka HannahBanana of Nourish. This basket (from Skylar Haley) contained 6 different types of dried fruits (Montmorency cherries, Granny Smith Apples, Peaches, Blueberries, Raspberries and Mixed Berries). Have I ever mentioned that I love dried fruit? I soooo totally do. I'd never had dried peaches before...they were awesome. The kiddos loved each and every kind, too! The basket also contained some sparkling juices (like Meyer Lemon and Fuji Apple), some protein boost coffee drinks (oh yeah), an Energy drink (mmmm hmmm) and an amazing smelling Mango & Spearmint (natural based formula) candle. This was a basket filled with amazingly delicious goodies!The other giveaway I won from Amanda was a whole CASE of Zevia natural diet soda. That is a whole 24 cans! There was Cola, Ginger ale, Orange, Black Cherry, Root beer and Twist. These sodas contain zero calories and are sweetened with Stevia Root (a natural sweetener). Although we don't drink much soda in our house, we do buy some from time to time. Surprisingly my favorite was the Black Cherry flavor. It's flavor was understated & perfectly sweet (not cloying). We also made some root beer floats and creamsicle floats....yummy! Thank you so much Amanda for these awesome prizes that I won. I loved them all! Another cool giveaway I recently won was a pack of goodies from the lovely Peachkins of The Peach Kitchen. These are not your my everyday goodies. They are Filipino snacks! So cool! The first thing I dug into surprise, surprise was the bag of dried mangoes!! While I love dried fruit...I really love dried mangoes! They were soft and smooth and full of sweet, mango goodness. Awesome!A few other things that we all loved were these Spicy Garlic snacks...which reminded me of CornNuts. These awesome Clover Chips which were cheesy, puffed chip-like things. And these Choco Soaked Sponge Crunches! I didn't know what to expect when opening any of these...which made it all the more fun to dive in! Also in the package were some ramen-type noodle bowls and some seasoning packets which I haven't tried yet...but will soon...I cannot wait! Thank you so much Peachy...I adore my snacks straight from the Philippines!And I finally have the cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking thanks to an amazing giveaway from Mary of Deep South Dish...of which I was the lucky winner! I have wanted this cookbook for years...and the release of Julie and Julia has only refueled the need to have it in my hot little hands! How awesome...I am taking my time and hungrily paging through it trying to decide what I want to make first. Thank you again...so much...Mary! I will cook & post something from it soon. Last, but not least, I won this amazing Frommer's book called 500 Places for Food & Wine Lovers from Esme of Chocolate and Croissants. Perfect! I am drooling and daydreaming and scheming a way to get to at least a few of these places...soon! I am such a dreamer and this is definitely fuel for my fire...I am loving every minute of it. So, to all you other foodies, food lovers, gourmands, epicureans, gastronomes, hungry people out there...I know there are good people in this world. Kindness that touches you in some little way (like a bag of cardamom pods). I also know that it is possible for you to win that giveaway! Or maybe the next one...all you have to do is enter!