Mim’s blog

Here's what I got at the market this week. Organic eggplant and zucchini are so good. Today, another hot and humid day, I decided to stay inside and cook the veggies. Okay, so I made it HOT inside while doing this. Oh bother! I brought out the wonderful chocolate and zucchini cake recipe from Clothilde (see her blog Chocolate and Zucchini which has wonderful recipes and food talk) and my favorite caponata recipe by Linda McCartney. Here are the two recipes. Enjoy! buen aproveche!

Chocolate & Zucchini Cake

- 1 1/2 C (180 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 C (60 g) whole wheat flour (of course, you can just use 2 C / 240 g all-purpose flour, I was just trying to be good)
- 1/2 C (40 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 C (110 g) butter, softened
- 1 C (160 g) light brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp instant coffee granules (the Nescafé type, the stronger the better)
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 2 C zucchini, unpeeled, grated (about 280 g, two medium)
- 1 C (170 g) chocolate chips

Topping :
- 40 g light brown sugar
- 1/2 C (70 g) hazelnuts, toasted and chopped(I used pecans)

(Serves 10.)

Preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F). Grease a 3 quart (3 L) springform cake pan, and flour it or sprinkle with cocoa powder : this is to help the cake unmold easily, especially if you're not using a magic non-stick pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In your food processor, combine the sugar and butter, and mix until fluffy. Add in the vanilla extract and espresso powder, then the eggs, one at a time, mixing thoroughly between each addition.

Spoon in the flour mixture, reserving the last half-cup of it. Mix thoroughly, the batter will be thick.

Add the grated zucchini and the chocolate chips to the reserved flour mixture, and toss to coat. Fold in the batter, and blend thoroughly, it's fun. Pour into the prepared cake pan, and flatten the surface with a spatula.

In a small bowl, combine the topping ingredients, and sprinkle all over the batter. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Turn out on a rack to cool for half an hour, then unmold.

Aubergine Caponata (eggplant!)
By Linda McCartney

1 large aubergine (I used 2 small ones)
1 small onion
1 stick celery (I didn’t have any so omitted)
1 oz olives (I used some pitted black Greek olives)
1 oz capers
2 ½  T olive oil
1 T wine vinegar
2 t sugar
1 C chopped tomatoes (I used canned diced ones)
1 T tomato puree (I used some tomato paste that I buy in a tube, very convenient)

Dice the eggplant into small cubes and sprinkle generously with salt. Leave on a plate or in a colander for 20 min. to pull out the liquid. While eggplant is draining, prepare the rest of the ingredients. Chop the onion, celery, olives and capers into small pieces.

Heat the oil in a deep saucepan and sauté the onion and cetery until lightly browned. Wash the salted eggplant thoroughly and drain, add gradually to the onion mix, adding more oil if necessary. Add the remaining ingredients, cover the pan and simmer, over a medium heat for 30  - 40 min. stirring occasionally.  Cool, put into a jar and refrigerate for 24 hours before serving. This is really good tasting. Serve with crackers or even on hot pasta.

Here are some of the beautful, organic veggies I got at the market last week (truth in blogging: the russet was an organic from the grocery store, ditto the onion.)
Here's what I did with them.

Mim's veggie melange
I baked the potato and set the insides aside.
Cut up the onion and the garlic (I had green garlic) and saute in olive oil until soft (don't let the garlic burn.) While that's cooking, cut the kale and spinach into strips, and cube the squash. First add the kale, and mix, cooking about 3 minutes, then add the spinach and the squash. Add a t water stir and cover cooking over a low heat for 5 minutes. Stir so the mix doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Add the potatoes and stir together with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste. Cook over low heat, stirring to keep from sticking, until squash is soft. 
I served this with veggie "riblets" and Chuck who is not a vegetarian and doesn't particularly like greens or squash said that this was a gourmet dish. Yum!
Try it, let me know what adaptations you make, if any, and how you liked it.

Last night, Ryan decided that I needed a new look to my Vox blog. Here he is, hard at work on my computer, trying to find just the right image for me. I think he chose the perfect one!

...are hanging out together. I'm visiting with him and his family in New Jersey, while his mom heals from surgery.  We've been taking nightly walks in his neighborhood. He's been taking some terrific fotos, which you can see on his vox blog, Little Yankee Fan. I took a foto of him by his friend's gate, which is quite attractive. You can see that New Jersey is in bloom, looking very lovely. Ryan changed the look of my Vox blog. He found me the best ever, for me, design. PARIS!! How perfect is that?!

Our world is enlarged by the birth of this baby! This is my friend Jackie's grandson, born the day after her funeral. The circle of life.

This morning, my friend Jackie died. I'd awaken very early and was thinking about her. How Sara brought her to see me when I'd broken my arm, not long after Jackie had her first brain surgery. She was so playful, as I'd never seen her before, holding the fake raven on her shoulder and saying "aargh" because I'd said she looked like a pirate. I was thinking about how she'd laughed so hard when Chuck said "au revoir" on greeting her, rather than "bonjour" and ever after we had to say "bonjour" when we parted company. I was thinking about how she enlarged our Passover experience, starting with my putting a few plastic frogs on the table, to amazing creations of the retelling of the  story, and the challenge to our kids to create ever more interesting and different visuals. I was thinking about how she enjoyed showing us the wardrobe of soft hats that Sara made for her. I wish this foto weren't a blur but we were in motion, saying "bonjour" at the end of our anniversary party last January. I love her big smile in this foto and wanted you to see it. She was a brave woman, valiant, was the word my sister gave us for her. She demonstrated graciousness, kindness, stubborn-ness and determination. She taught me a lot about how to BE.  She tried very hard to be here in this life for the birth of her grandson. She didn't make it. I will miss her. Bonjour, Jackie!

I'm in Los Angeles to celebrate my mother's 94th birthday thiis Saturday.  My sister E. and I drove with mom into the city, where A. (one of Mom's grandaughters) did her hair. She'll look so fab' for her party. Afterwards, we went to Nathan's deli, like the New York City one, but NOT. It was eerily empty and quiet. But Mom enjoyed her sandwich. 

My friend Jackie. I want to share a few photos with you. Here she is with a scarf that a friend brought her back from Nepal or India, I can't remember where now. Doesn't Jackie look like a Buddhist nun? I love this photo.  Her daughter made her a wardrobe of soft hats to wear. She wore this lovely black and white to our anniversary party last January. During the summer of 2006, she wore a scarf in a very jaunty pirate-y fashion, so we pinned a fake bird on her shoulder and she played pirate for us. I'll be on a plane tomorrow morning, to visit my mother who is going to be 94 on Saturday. Jackie's grandson is due to be born on that day. I hope that Jackie will see him. I'm feeling so sad, I just had to post these photos before I headed away from my city and Jackie.

This is just so wonderful...a salt water pool, and all to ourselves during the morning. No one but us! How good is this?!