Egg Hunt

My Friend, the Walnut

Monday night, I had two pounds of walnuts and a hammer. Blame it on latent OCD, but to me there's little more satisfying than tapping a fracture into a walnut husk and prying out an entire nutmeat intact. What emerges is an odd and prehistoric orb, containing enough protein and fat calories to sustain our nomadic ancestors, helping to make civilization possible. Now, smash it!

This fresh, walnuts taste sweet and clean, without a hint of the bitterness they'll eventually acquire. One of my favorite ways to showcase them is in this torte- short, rich, and deeply flavored. "Just a sliver" is very satisfying... trust me! If you enjoy a piece with your breakfast coffee, you'll feel full until your b.l.t. and soda at noon.

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Walnut Torte adapted from The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan

Mountain Bakers: add a splash more rum, a pinch less baking powder, and raise the oven temperature to 375 degree. Shorten baking time to 25 minutes.

2 c shelled walnuts, toasted for 8 minutes (or until fragrant) at 350 degrees

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup flour

2/3 c sugar

7 tbl butter, room temp.

1 lg egg, room temp.

2 tbl rum (or Nocino, if you're lucky!)

grated zest of one orange

powdered sugar or cocoa powder for sprinkling on finished cake

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter and flour an 8" round cake pan, or a 9" pan for a crunchy, squat, almost cookie-like cake that you shave pieces off throughout the week (this is how I like it).

Sift the flour with the b.powder and salt. Set aside.

In a food processor, combine the toasted and cooled walnuts with 1 tbl sugar and pulse until ground fine, but not a powder (or chop very fine with the sugar by hand). Remove from bowl and set aside.

Into the processor (or mixing bowl),  combine butter with the remaining sugar and process until creamy. Add the egg, rum, and orange zest and process briefly until ingredients are combined. Remove to a mixing bowl, add ground walnuts, and stir to combine. Add dry ingredients and stir just to combine (the batter will be dense).

Pour batter into baking pan, level with spatula, and bake 35-40 minutes, or until toothpick comes out dry.

Cool, then sprinkle with powdered sugar or cocoa powder. The flavor of the cake will improve as it sits and will keep at at room temperature for several days.

Persimmon Pudding

When I arrived in California in the early nineties, there were many fruits I had yet to taste: blood oranges, meyer lemons, bergamot, fresh figs, quince, pomegranates, passion fruit. And, of course, persimmons.

My first encounter with a persimmon was not pleasant. There's no doubt it was pretty- acorn-shaped with a coral blush- but so astringent that it left my mouth with a queer feeling of having swallowed a pin cushion stuffed with tiny needles. This is what everyone's raving about?! No thanks.

Eventually I learned that I had sampled a Hachiya, which, when allowed to ripen (oops!) is a brilliant deep orange, jelly-soft and honey-sweet, scooped from its peel with a spoon. When the fruit has practically burst through its skin, it's time to make this pudding.

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Persimmon Pudding

This recipe was given to me by Sarah Egri, then pastry chef at Quince. She liked to serve it warm, with cognac cream. As terrific as this is, I like it even better cold for breakfast!

For mountain bakers like myself, add a splash more liquid, a pinch less both baking powder and soda, and raise the oven temp. by twenty-five degrees. 

1 1/4 c AP flour

1/8 tsp salt

3/4 tsp b.soda

3/4 tsp b.powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 c hachiya persimmon pulp, pureed

3/4 c sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 c milk

1/4 c cream

1 Tbl honey

1 c walnuts, toasted and chopped

3 oz butter, melted

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Preheat oven to 325 degrees and prepare a 9" round cake pan.

Combine dry ingredients

Combine wet ingredients (except butter), gradually adding to the dries.

Let stand a few minutes to thicken.

Add butter and nuts.

Bake 1 1/2 hours, or until set.

Slice into wedges and serve.

Pumpkin Pancakes

In San Francisco's Glen Park neighborhood, there's a bustling coffee shop by the name of Tygers, and if you're lucky, the morning you eat there will be a morning pumpkin pancakes appear on their "Specials" board

If you can't make it to San Francisco's Glen Park neighborhood, then try this version, copied from an old issue of Yankee magazine.  As good as Tyger's is, these are even better, especially if you warm your plates, fry up some pepper bacon, and sprinkle with toasted pecans.

(Besides, isn't breakfast tastier when you don't have to change out of your pajamas?)

Pumpkin Pancakes

These pancakes appearing on my table are as sure a sign of autumn as the leaves turning in the Sierras and a wardrobe change into corduroy and wool.

Sift into a large bowl:

1 1/2 flour

2 tbl baking powder

2 tbl brown sugar, packed

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp allspice

a couple scrapings of nutmeg 

Add:

1 1/2 c evaporated milk

1 c pumpkin puree (if you're using fresh squash, cook briefly, stirring, over medium high heat to remove excess water).

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 c bacon drippings

Pour batter onto pre-greased skillet by 1/3 cupfuls. Cook for two minutes per side, or until golden and cooked through. Serve with warmed maple syrup.

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