This recipe is from Bon Appétit magazine and makes a great Summer dessert. I thought the filling maybe needed a bit more ooomph — next time, I may add a teaspoon or two of orange or lemon liqueur. Of course, this might also be because I used “light” cream cheese. Perhaps that was a mistake. Next time? Bring on the fat.

To get the crust nicely padded into the tart pan, I usually use a shot glass to help flatten the bottom and press the sides up. This works very well. I forget where I learned that tip but I did not make it up myself.

Use ripe, tasty nectarines for this — you will not be sorry.

Crust
25 gingersnap cookies, coarsely broken (about 6 ounces; about 2 1/4 cups pieces)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Filling
1 8-ounce container mascarpone cheese
6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp grated lemon peel
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp finely chopped crystallized ginger
Optional: 1-2 tsp of your favorite citrusy liqueur (Grand Marnier? Limoncello?)

Topping
4 to 5 small nectarines, halved, pitted, cut into thin slices
1/4 cup peach jam, warmed
2 tbsp finely chopped crystallized ginger

For crust:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Finely grind gingersnaps in processor. Add butter and blend until crumbs are evenly moistened. Press mixture over bottom and up sides of 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Use a shot glass for a nice, even surface!

Bake crust until color darkens, pressing sides with back of spoon if beginning to slide, about 8 minutes. Cool completely.

For filling:
Beat first 6 ingredients in medium bowl until smooth. Beat in crystallized ginger. Liqueur? Spread filling in prepared crust. Cover loosely and refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.

For topping:
Overlap nectarine slices atop filling in concentric circles. Don’t feel bad if you get lazy by the time you get to the center. I did.

Brush with jam. Sprinkle with chopped crystallized ginger. Remove sides of tart pan by putting the tart on a can or jar and pulling the rim down. Serve, or refrigerate up to 6 hours.

***

I have read a bunch of great books lately. I thought I would share:

Spin

The Last Chinese Chef

One Thousand White Women

This is a great meal for when you don’t really know what you feel like or what you want for dinner. It has everything — bread, cheese, veggies, and basil. If you wanted to go crazy, I bet you could even add some cooked, cubed chicken. jwa and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The slightly sweet cornbread really works with the tomatoes, cheese (what doesn’t work with cheese?) and lemony olive oil.

I just used a box of cornbread mix (Trader Joe’s brand), baked that (I added a little garlic, sautéed leeks and fresh herbs to the mix) and then let it cool before cubing it and drying the cubes of bread out a little in a 290 degree oven. That worked just great.

Cornbread Panzanella Salad
This recipe is based on one by Giada De Laurentiis.
4 cups cornbread, cut into cubes
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup fontina cheese, cubed
1/2 hothouse cucumber, cubed
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 lemon, zested and juice
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
pinch red pepper flakes

Combine the cornbread, garlic, cheese, cucumber, onion, basil and cherry tomatoes in a large bowl. Toss gently.

Mix together the zest, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and pepper flakes. Toss with the veggies and bread in the same large bowl.

Now, just sit down and eat!

Wedding Flowers

I kind of tested out making a hand-tied bouquet with some $3.99 a bunch irises. For the wedding, I’m going to use burgandy calla lilies (and possibly a few fiddlehead fern thingies), but I figured the small irises would be a good practice flower.

I think it’ll work. I’ve decided to go the diy-route with Fiftyflowers and for our size wedding and flower needs, I am convinced this is a great choice. I gathered the flowers in bunches of three (10 flowers each bunch) and secured with floral wire.

Then, I wrapped everything together with more wire and then wrapped the big bunch in chocolate-colored satin ribbon.

The other night we pulled the little Weber grill out of the garage again and grilled some chicken, caramelized some bell peppers and onions (inside, in a pan, with a little salt, cumin and chili powder), made some guacamole and to accompany it all there was a pitcher of tasty, tasty sangria.

The sangria recipe is from the old red and white checked Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. This is probably one of the only recipes I still use this cookbook for, but that alone makes it worth the shelf space, imho. I’m not sure how completely authentic it is, but it is dependably good.

Really Good Summer Sangria
1 bottle red wine (I used $4 barefoot merlot)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 lemon, sliced
1 orange, sliced
1 lime, sliced
1-2 cups sparkling water

Add the sugar, water and the end fruit slices (6 total from the ends of the lemon, lime and orange) to the pan and heat until boiling and all the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Meanwhile, pour the wine into a big pitcher and add the uncooked fruit slices. After the syrup has cooled down add that too, reserving the cooked fruit slices. Squeeze as much juice out of those as you can into the pitcher and then discard. Stir.

I usually make this a couple of hours before serving, just storing it in the fridge. When you are ready to drink it, add a cup of the sparkling water. Taste. Add more sparkling water if desired and serve over ice.

Now, to go with your awesome sangria, you may just want to grill some chicken. If you do, first slather some boneless, skinless chicken breasts with a paste made of fresh cilantro leaves (2 big handfuls), garlic (1-2 cloves), lime juice (about 1 tbsp), jalapeno pepper (1/2 a pepper), salt, olive oil (1/4 cup or so) and green onion (2-3). You get this paste by adding all these items to a food processor and letting it go for a few minutes. *whir* *whir* *whir*

Slather. Then grill. Then eat.

We recently did a first grilling of the season test by making two huge, juicy cheeseburgers. There are no pictures of the cheeseburgers because I did not trust jwa with my plate so that I could go get the camera. Plus, it was so delicious I did not want to leave it. Sometimes, this is what happens when you have an awesome cheeseburger meal.

To accompany the cheeseburgers, I threw together some lemony and herby three bean salad. This recipe is based on one I found at Whole Foods Market.

Thee Bean Salad
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 can garbanzo beans, drained
1 big bunch of green beans, trimmed and steamed until tender
1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
1 tbsp fresh chives, chopped
Dressing
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp sugar
salt & pepper to taste
pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

Mix all salad ingredients together.

In a separate bowl, whisk together all dressing ingredients. Toss over the salad beans. Adjust seasonings and oil-to-vinegar ratio to taste. Let it all meld in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours before serving.

Next, start the grill…

Friday’s post will involve a drink recipe. Woo!

I originally envisioned this post for Weekend Cookbook Challenge 17, but I didn’t get it up in time. Most of this week (in the evening) has been devoted to working on the wedding website with jwa. Happily, save the date cards went out last Thursday. Well, at least the main bulk of them — there’s a few still lingering on the dining room table while we locate addresses.. Hopefully, those will make it out this week.

But, let’s move on. This recipe is from Everyday Italian and it turned out pretty well. The texture is a little different due to the cornmeal but once you get used to that, it’s really quite good. In addition to the almond paste, I also added about a teaspoon of almond extract, based on the recommendations from reviewers on the site.

Almond Cake
1/2 cup fine yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup almond paste, cut into half-inch pieces
1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar, plus more for dusting
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
2 eggs
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch round cake pan with vegetable spray or you could also butter and flour the cake pan. Your choice. After you decide that, in a medium bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, cake flour and baking powder and set aside.

Then, using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and almond paste on high speed until smooth, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to low and slowly add confectioners’ sugar. Mix until thoroughly combined and light and fluffy.

Raise speed to high and add the vanilla and almond extracts, whole eggs and egg yolks, 1 at a time. Mix until well combined. Reduce speed to medium and add the sour cream and dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the surface with a spatula.

Bake in the lower third of the oven for 35 minutes, or until the cake is golden and pulls away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool. Remove from pan and dust with confectioners’ sugar.

Let cool a few minutes and dive in!

We went to Sub Rosa for dinner last night and had a good meal — wine, salads, pasta, a pizza for jwa and some pistachio gelato. Hey! It was for charity!

One of the things that I am most excited about though (and have been putting enough effort into to not have time to post about the almond cake), is that we’ve found a photographer! Hooray! Christina Gilchrist will be shooting our wedding next Spring and we are so happy to have found her. So, if you are in the Oregon/Washington area and are looking for a nice and very talented wedding photographer — there you go.

We also spoke with Angela Snyder, Gayle Aman and Urban Photography. We really liked Angela (she was the clear second choice) and actually, Gayle was great too. Jodi at Urban Photography was nice as well, but a bit more expensive for what you actually received in the packages, imho.

Nye Beach, Newport, Oregon

No new post — was at the coast until last night. When we got home, I had other things I needed to do

Hopefully, there will be my almond cake tomorrow! But, we did find a great place to stay: Above the Schoolhouse Lodging.

Libby from the local nonprofit Growing Gardens emailed me today about an event at Sub Rosa next Wednesday, June 13th. The restaurant will be donating 50%(!) of all profits that evening to Growing Gardens. I’ve posted the press release in its entirety below.

So, if you’re hungry next week and in the mood to do some good, you know where to go for dinner. You get a tasty meal, Growing Gardens get some money to continue their mission and Portland families in need get vegetable gardens and the training to keep their gardens thriving — everybody wins!

SubRosa will donate 50 percent of profits to Growing Gardens - June 13th, 2007
PORTLAND, OR – June 6, 2007– Spend an “evening with an old friend who knows you better than anybody else” (Portland Mercury), and half the proceeds will benefit Growing Gardens. “I think it’s a shame that eating nutritiously is so expensive in our community,” says SubRosa’s owner, MaryAnn Archambalt.

“That’s why I’m dedicating this night to Growing Gardens. I believe deeply in its mission to teach low-income families and folks how to grow their own healthy food. Everyone deserves to eat well.”

About SubRosa
SubRosa specializes in thin-crust, hand-tossed pizza, pasta and seasonal salads in an airy corner dining room at 2601 SE Clinton St. Fans rave about the attentive staff, community feeling and generous, flavorful dinners and desserts. Hours are 5 to 9pm weekdays.

About Growing Gardens
We plant seeds for good food and healthy people by making sure low-income people have the knowledge and resources they need to grow organic vegetables at home, improving nutrition, creating food security and deepening self-reliance. We organize hundreds of volunteers to build organic, raised bed vegetable gardens in backyards, front yards, side yards and even on balconies. We support low income households for three years with seeds, plants, classes, and mentors. Our Youth Grow after school garden clubs grow the next generation of veggie eaters and growers! Through Learn & Grow workshops and work parties, we teach gardeners all about growing, preparing and preserving healthful food while respecting the health of the environment. Through this work, community members meet over the backyard garden, through volunteering, by attending classes, and through sharing extra produce.

For more information, visit Growing Gardens.

I was recently looking at menus in Astoria at a bunch of different restaurants (I can’t remember which this was from — or even if I was still looking at Astoria restaurants) — it’s all a blur, really.

Anyway, I came across wasabi-maple grilled salmon on one of the menus. Hmmmm, I thought, that’s kind of intriguing. Later, when I tried to find a recipe for it, I found a blog talking about how McCormick was touting wasabi-maple as the hip, new combo for cooks in 2007. After I rolled my eyes and made a few snorting sounds, I decided to go ahead and try it anyway.

This is kind of based on the McCormick recipe I found online, but kind of changed a little because, although powdered ginger and powdered garlic have their place, a wet marinade is not one of those places, imho.

Also, if you are afraid of trying an experiment on a beautiful piece of salmon (I was — I had a big, awesome Chinook fillet), don’t be. The flavor imparted is really very mild and the fish still stands out, as it should.

Wasabi-Maple Grilled Salmon
2 tsp wasabi powder
1 tsp water
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 green onions, sliced
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled
1 tbsp vegetable oil
salt & pepper
1 lb salmon fillet(s)

Mix the water into the wasabi to make a paste. Transfer to a ziplock bag or a big bowl and mix in the maple syrup through the ginger. Add the salmon and let marinade for about an hour or two.

I had a huge piece of salmon so I just marinated it whole, then removed and sliced into two pieces right before grilling. You can also grill the garlic pieces from the marinade.

I also put the leftover marinade in a pan and brought it to a boil, then simmered it and used it as a light glaze on the finished fish.

Heat up your grill pan and oil it liberally. Salt and pepper the salmon and grill until done to your liking. Let it sit for a minute or two on a plate while you finish getting whatever else ready for the meal. In my case, it was some sauteed asparagus in sesame oil with garlic.

Plate everything up and enjoy!

***

Anyone have a good Portland area wedding photographer to recommend? If so, leave a comment and let me know! We met with Urban Photography yesterday (might be a bit too pricey for our budget). Angela Snyder is our first choice so far and we’re meeting with Christina Gilchrist next week (I have a good feeling about her). If we can’t decide between Angela and Christina we have a meeting with Artful Images the following week. Agghhhh!!!

This makes a great side dish. We just had it recently, if I remember correctly, with some chicken. See — that’s how good it was, I can’t even remember what we had it with!

The original recipe layered individual servings with the mint, olive oil and lemon. I just tossed everything in a bowl. You do what you need to do.

Zucchini Carpaccio Salad
Recipe based on one from Gourmet magazine
4 small zucchini (1 lb total)
1/3 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup pine nuts (1 oz)
1 /4 shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Cut the zucchini into thin slices. You can use a mandoline (not the instrument!) or the slicer part of a box grater. I used the grater — worked well. Put zucchini in a large bowl, one that will give you enough room to toss everything.

Make stacks of mint leaves and cut crosswise into very thin slivers, then sprinkle over zucchini. Whisk together oil and lemon juice in a small bowl, then drizzle over zucchini. Sprinkle with sea salt, pepper to taste, and pine nuts. Let stand 10-15 minutes to soften zucchini and allow flavors to develop.

Just before serving, sprinkle the shaved cheese over the zucchini. A few extra grinds of pepper never hurt anyone, either.

***

Meeting with a wedding photographer tomorrow. Yay!