Nasturtium Jalapeño Aioli

This aioli was the result of a little experiment I conducted earlier this week. I was testing both my ability to make aioli and also the flavor combination. Peter over at cookblog mentioned a nasturtium pesto awhile back, and that led me down the path to nasturtium aioli. I was thinking the peppery leaves would flavor an aioli nicely. To point up the pepperiness and cut the richness with some acidity at the same time, I decided to use some slices of pickled jalapeno as well. That idea was blatantly stolen from Susan Spicer after having tried her jalapeño dressing. My concoction was just what I was hoping for in that it was thick and creamy with peppery, herbal notes and just a hint of spice.

One egg yolk was whisked with garlic as the olive oil was barely dribbled in at first. Little by little, the remaining olive oil was incorporated, and then the nasturtium leaves and jalapeno were added. I tasted and added a pinch of salt. We enjoyed the experimental aioli on simply boiled potatoes. After this successful test run, I’m hoping I can recreate it and that it will pair well with roasted salmon.

Nasturtium Jalapeño Aioli:
1 egg yolk
1/2 c olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
3 T finely chopped nasturtium leaves
3 slices of pickled jalapeno, finely minced
Salt to taste

I'm submitting this to Ivy at Kopiaste who is hosting Weekend Herb Blogging organized by Haalo at Cook Almost Anything at Least Once.

Baked Brie with Pimenton Toasts

Baked brie makes a perfectly rich and gooey snack or first course. I received a double-cream brie from Ile de France and immediately knew I wanted to bake it to a state of molten goodness. I found this recipe on Epicurious, but I omitted the garlic to keep the flavors a little simpler.

Softened butter was combined with pimenton de la vera, and I really could eat that on everything. Here, it was spread on small pieces of bread and toasted for about 10 minutes in the oven. Meanwhile, the brie was taken out of its wooden container, the covering was removed, and it was returned to the wooden container. It went into the oven for 20 minutes. Then, the top rind was cut away to allow for dipping. The hint of smokiness in the pimenton was a nice accent, but I used a small enough amount to let the brie flavor take the lead. Melty, drippy, beautiful brie was made so easy to scoop onto the bread delivery system. This may be the simplest yet most satisfying cheese recipe there is.

Strawberry Jam Cake

I read Sweets: Soul Food Desserts and Memories last year, made one of the cakes in the book, and mentally bookmarked several other pages. One of those was the page with the strawberry jam cake. All of the desserts from this book are charming, old-fashioned sweets made by members of the author's extended family. When I get to choose dessert, chances are it will be berry-flavored or lemon or caramel, and this time strawberry was the winner. This is actually a spice cake with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and ginger. It has pecans and buttermilk and of course strawberry jam. In the book, it was presented as a three layer cake which was to have more strawberry jam spread between the layers. I went in a slightly different direction with it and added the frosting from a different strawberry layer cake on page 39.

The jam cake recipe makes a lot of batter with five eggs and four cups of flour, and I chose to fill two eight inch round cake pans and bake the remaining batter in a small baking dish. I made a small layer cake with the rounds and put the extra flat cake in the freezer. I’m thinking that will make a useful platform for strawberries and whipped cream at a later date. For my layer cake, I followed the other recipe’s instructions for the strawberry frosting. Frozen strawberries were thawed and their juice was strained, and then the berries were combined with butter and confectioner’s sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. It was mixed until smooth, and I learned what to do differently next time. When I make this again, I’ll mix the butter and confectioner’s sugar first and then add the strawberries once that is already smooth. That way, I’ll be able to decide how chunky or not to leave the strawberries in the frosting. By mixing them all together, the strawberries were made smooth along with the butter. The flavor was fantastic, and the berries naturally made the frosting pink, but I thought a little texture from berry chunks might have been nice.

When I first frosted the cake, I placed it in the refrigerator to set. We enjoyed the cake that first day in its chilled state, but when I left it covered on the counter overnight, it was even better at room temperature the next day. The flavor of the spices and pecans was more pronounced, and the cake had become even more tender than the day before. In fact, it was better still the day after that. This cake would be delicious with just a dusting of confectioner’s sugar instead of being frosted, but the frosting added an extra punch of fruit and decadence.