I just got home from a
weekend spent with a couple of my foodie friends. The three of us only see each
other two or three times each year as we gather at one of our homes. Food and
cooking is our passion and those two similarities are what first brought us
together a few years ago. Now we are friends.

This time we met Friday
night in Gilbert at the Whistling Bird. It had been several months since we’d last been together, so
over delicious Jamaican food, we caught up on all the news. The rest of the
weekend was spent at my friend’s home on Bass Lake
not far from Gilbert. We cooked and ate our way through the weekend.

I can’t decide what my
favorite foods were from our cooking extravaganza. They were all good. Brunch
today was fabulous and it’s still fresh in my mind, so that’s what I’ll share
first.

Our hostess had made a brioche
bread loaf before our weekend began. Brioche is a fine-textured French yeast bread
made rich and delicate with lots of butter and eggs. She cut thick slices of
the bread to create sandwiches filled with slices of brie cheese, fresh
strawberries and strawberry jam. After slathering both sides of the sandwiches
with butter, she toasted them just like grilled cheese sandwiches. The
resulting golden brown delicacies were dusted with powdered sugar and served warm.
Sweet juicy strawberries, warm, melted earthy brie, and crunchy brioche
bread—it’s a combination I will be craving until I make this myself.

Bacon was served on the
side, but this wasn’t just your plain old ordinary bacon. Thick slices were
laid out flat on a baking sheet, sprinkled with brown sugar and freshly ground
black pepper and then baked at 400 degrees until just starting to get crisp. It
was heavenly.

You won’t need detailed
recipes to prepare this winning brunch menu for your family and friends. It’s
just a glamorous grilled cheese sandwich and bacon that’s been kicked up a
notch — a perfect menu for a spring brunch or a summer luncheon.

Along with the first calls of the
loons, the chirping of birds, the bright sunshine and the earthy fragrance of
the woods, comes my desire for pound cake.

Pairing pound cake with
spring is a tradition in my family. It starts at Easter when I mix up my
favorite pound cake batter and bake it in the cast-iron lamb cake mold that my
grandma used.

You can see the mold below. I didn’t take a picture of the cake until it was half eaten. Even one of the ears is missing.

I nibble my way through
pound-cake season as I bake that same batter in a bundt pan and serve it with
clusters of fresh grapes or topped with fresh strawberries.

When Minneapolis cookbook author, Pat
Sinclair, gave me a copy of her Baking Basics and Beyond to review, I asked her to tell
me which of the recipes in the book is her favorite. And guess what. It’s a
pound cake.

In the book, Pat shares
recipes for Chocolate-Amaretto Pound Cake, Vanilla Bean Pound Cake and Orange
Mini-Bundt Pound Cakes. Her favorite is Butter Rum Pound Cake.

This delicious cake is baked
in two loaf pans, then poked with a wooden skewer several times before spooning
a rum glaze over the top. The warm, sweet liquid soaks into the rich cake
making it simply divine. And oh, so moist.

Baking Basics and Beyond
holds so many recipes that I can’t wait to try. I’ve marked many pages. Scones, tarts, cookies, coffee cakes and muffins will be baking in my oven soon. Not
only are Pat’s recipes easy to follow, they practically shout out
“sensational.” At the end of each recipe she shares little tips and all her
secrets to success.

I wish I had a wedding
shower to attend, because this book would be a wonderful gift along with a
bottle of premium vanilla extract wrapped up together in a kitchen towel with a
wooden spoon and a whisk tucked into the bow.

It would be a great birthday
gift for friends who love to bake. Include a loaf of fresh-baked Almond Tea
Loaf using the recipe on page 46.

It’s not often that I find a
cookbook that makes me feel like I’m in the kitchen baking with my mom. That’s
what it felt like as I prepared Butter Rum Pound Cake. Pat speaks to the baker
through her clear and concise instructions and her notes that include the kind
of information your mom or your grandma would share if she were right along
side of you—the kind of information that helps you build skills and techniques
that will make you bake like a pro.

With Pat’s permission, I am
sharing her recipe for Butter Rum Pound Cake found on page 193 of her cookbook.
It might start a pound cake and spring pairing tradition for you. But as Pat
suggests, this cake makes a nice holiday gift, too.

Butter Rum Pound Cake
Makes 2 cakes, 24 servings

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup lowfat buttermilk,
  room temperature

Glaze

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1/4 cup dark rum

Heat oven to 350 degrees
with rack in middle. Grease and flour two 8 1/2x 4 1/2-inch loaf pans and line
bottoms with parchment paper.

Sift flour, baking powder,
baking soda, and salt into medium bowl.

Beat butter in bowl of a
heavy-duty mixer on Medium speed until creamy. Gradually add sugar, scraping
sides of bowl occasionally, and beat 2 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time,
scraping sides of bowl after each egg is added. Add vanilla and beat 2 minutes
until very light and creamy.

Reduce mixer speed to Low. Add
flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with 2 additions of buttermilk.
Scrape down sides of bowl after each addition. Beat until smooth, but no longer
than 15 seconds. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake 45 to 55 minutes or
until cakes are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out
clean. Cakes will be starting to pull away from pan sides. Cool 5 minutes on
wire cooling rack.

Run a spatula around sides
of pans and lift cake bottoms slightly. Using a bamboo skewer or wooden pick,
pierce tops of cakes generously so they can absorb the rum glaze.

Glaze

Bring sugar, butter, and
water to a boil over medium heat in medium saucepan, stirring often. Reduce
heat to low and simmer 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and stir in rum.

Spoon glaze generously over
warm cakes, a couple of tablespoons at a time. Continue adding glaze as it is
absorbed. Allow cakes to cool completely, then carefully remove them from pans.

Pat’s Notes: The more you
pierce the cake, the more glaze it will absorb. Let the glaze soak in slowly.
You may not use all the glaze.

Use dark or gold rum. Myer’s
rum is a good choice because it is aged and very smooth.

Pat’s Secrets to Success:
Buttermilk can be purchased in a dried form in the baking section of your
supermarket. It can be stored in the freezer and used whenever you need
buttermilk for baking. Follow the directions on the package for using in
recipes.

I know it’s been a while,
but I’m finally back. You’ve been so patient.

I was in Chicago for several days attending the annual
conference for members of the International Association of Culinary
Professionals. I took lots of pictures and will be sharing some with you in the
days ahead along with some recipes that will give you a glimpse of some of the
great food I had while I was there. I had a laptop computer with me and planned
to post some photos and tidbits of information from the conference. Obviously,
that didn’t happen. There were too many sessions I just couldn’t miss and so
many people to meet.

I got home just in time to
dive into a food page that I only had a few days to work on. To celebrate Earth
Day, each recipe that appears on the food page uses local and/or organically
grown ingredients. When I moved to Bemidji
about 5½ years ago, there were very few organic ingredients, fresh or canned,
available at the local grocery stores. The local food co-op was our best option
for those kinds of foods. These days, between the food co-op and the large
grocery stores, almost any recipe can be prepared with almost all organic or
locally produced foods. These foods cost a little bit more, but they help
protect our health, the farmer’s health, and the health of our earth.

The asparagus in the stores
right now is too beautiful to pass up. Organic asparagus is in some of the
stores. I purchased a one-pound bundle of slender green organic spears and
quickly got to work preparing a creamy springtime asparagus soup to share with
friends.

Sautéing a mix of vegetables
in butter before simmering them in chicken broth releases wonderful flavor. A
bit of dry sherry is the secret ingredient that brings all the flavor together.

I pureed the soup with my
electric hand-held immersion blender right in the stockpot. I forgot to take
the bay leaf out first, so tiny bits of it hid in the creamy mixture. Next time
I will be sure to remove the bay leaf first.

Try making Creamy Springtime
Asparagus Soup now and then again when the spears come from local gardens.

Creamy Springtime Asparagus
Soup

• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick)
  butter
• 1 pound asparagus spears,
  chopped (Reserve some tips for garnish)
• 1 small red potato, about 4
  ounces, peeled and chopped
• ¼ cup chopped onion
• 1/3 cup chopped celery
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
  leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons sherry
• 4 cups chicken broth
• ½ cup whipping cream
• Pinch of cayenne
• Salt and pepper to season

Melt butter in large
stockpot and add asparagus, potato, onion, celery, bay leaf and thyme. Sauté,
stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes. Add garlic and sauté 2 more
minutes. Add flour and stir until it is well incorporated into vegetable
mixture. It may begin to stick to bottom of pot. That’s okay. Add sherry and
stir well. Add chicken broth and simmer 45 minutes or until vegetables are very
tender.

Remove pot from heat. Puree
mixture in food processor or blender or in pot with hand-held immersion
blender. If using food processor or blender, puree soup in batches. Return soup
to low heat and add whipping cream and cayenne. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve hot and garnish with asparagus spears. Makes about 6 (1-cup) servings.

• The woody ends of the
  asparagus spears that you snap off are not used in the soup.
• Other than the sherry, salt
  and pepper, I prepared this soup using all organic or locally-produced
  products.
• Be sure to use dry sherry
  from the liquor store, not the cooking sherry from the grocery store that has a
  very high sodium content and is very low on good flavor.

On a recent trip to St. Paul, I had lunch at Grand Thai, a restaurant on Grand Avenue. There were so many delicious sounding menu items I couldn’t decide what to order. I asked the waiter to recommend his favorite dish on the menu.

I trusted his suggestion and placed my order. It didn’t take much time for a good-sized plate to be delivered to my table. It was filled with chunks of white chicken meat and sautéed fresh spinach in a coconut-curry sauce over rice. It was fragrant and full of flavor.

Mango-Stuffed Coconut Chicken is served with a similar tasting sauce. Chicken breasts are pounded thin, then stuffed with spears of fresh mango, dipped in egg and coated with flaked coconut before browning in butter. While the golden breasts are baking, the sauce can be simmering. The sauce can be made the day before and refrigerated for flavors to blend and develop. Just reheat over low heat. The Mango Rice can also be cooking while the chicken is baking. If you have a difficult time getting your meal to be completed all at the same time, this is a dish you should try. You will have the most success if you measure all the ingredients out before you start cooking. That way it will all come together easily.

Mango Rice is also nice to serve with grilled shrimp or pork tenderloin.

After two weeks of working on mango recipes, I just discovered today that a grapefruit spoon is a good tool for scraping mango chunks off the skin rather than cutting them off with a knife.

Check the March 30^th entry on this blog to learn how I prepare a mango.

Mango-Stuffed Coconut Chicken

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
• 4 (1/2-inch) slices fresh mango, cut as fingers or spears
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 to 2 cups flaked coconut
• ½ cup butter
• ¼ cup minced shallot
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup cubed fresh mango, divided
• ½ cup chicken broth
• ¼ cup dry white wine
• ¼ to ½ teaspoon curry powder
• 2 tablespoons coconut milk
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lay chicken breasts on large piece of plastic wrap on your work surface. Place a piece of plastic wrap on top of breasts. Pound with meat mallet until chicken is ½-inch thick. Place mango slices on chicken breast and roll up. Secure with wooden picks.

Dip each chicken roll-up in egg. Dredge in coconut. Brown chicken over medium heat in ½ cup butter in large skillet. Remove chicken to ungreased baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove and discard wooden picks. Place chicken on serving platter and keep warm.

Sauté shallot 3 tablespoons butter in saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until tender. Add garlic and sauté 2 more minutes. Add ½ cup cubed mango, broth, wine and curry powder. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes. Add coconut milk, salt and pepper. Cook an additional 2 minutes.

Pour mango mixture into container of electric blender or food processor. Cover and process until smooth. Pour mixture into serving bowl. Stir in remaining ½ cup mango cubes. Serve mango mixture with chicken. Makes 4 servings.

Mango Rice

• 2 tablespoons chopped onion
• 3 tablespoons butter
• ½ cup long-grain rice, uncooked
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup diced fresh mango
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• Salt and pepper to taste 

Melt butter in medium saucepan. Sauté onion over medium-high heat until tender. Add rice. Stir well. Stir in broth. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 18 to 20 minutes or until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed. Stir in mango, nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately. Makes 4 servings.

• Coconut milk can be purchased in a can in the Asian food section of the international aisle at your grocery store. In this recipe you can use the regular or the light coconut milk.

Everything tastes better with chocolate, right?

Well, I’m not convinced that mango tastes better with chocolate, but it sure tastes just as good as it does all by itself.

Golden orange chunks of juicy mango and spicy-sweet bits of crystallized ginger give this moist chocolate cake an exotic aura.

If you like chocolate for breakfast, it takes no time at all to mix up this cake and get it into the oven. It’s what I did this morning.  An apricot glaze and some chopped pistachios give it the finishing touch when it comes out of the oven.

A warm piece of cake with Saturday morning coffee in the sunroom was a great way to start my day. There are still several inches of snow on the ground, but the sun is shining.

To celebrate the sun I added a little dollop of whipped cream to my cake. 

Upside-Down Chocolate-Mango Cake

• ¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon whipping cream
• 1 medium mango, peeled, fruit removed from pit and cut into small chunks
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1/3 cup baking cocoa
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup buttermilk
• ¼ cup canola oil
• 1 large egg
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup apricot preserves
• 1 tablespoon chopped pistachios 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Position rack in lower third of oven.

Sift flour, baking soda, sugar, cocoa and salt in large mixing bowl. In another bowl, whisk buttermilk, canola oil, egg, ginger and vanilla. Set both bowls aside.

In small saucepan, melt brown sugar and butter, stirring until melted. Add whipping cream. Immediately pour mixture into buttered 8-inch square baking dish. Sprinkle mango on top.

Add liquid ingredients to dry flour mixture. Beat at low speed with electric hand mixer for 1 minute. Increase speed to medium and beat for 2 more minutes. Pour batter over mangoes in baking dish.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Meanwhile, melt apricot preserves in small saucepan over low heat or in small dish in microwave on 50% power.

Remove baked cake from oven. Run a knife around edge of dish to loosen cake. Invert cake onto a platter. Brush melted preserves over cake. Sprinkle with chopped pistachios. Serve warm or let cool. Makes 9 servings.

• I added a tablespoon of coconut rum to the cake batter before baking, only because I had some and only because I love the combination of chocolate and coconut. It was good.

I’ve been eating mangoes since I made the muffins I posted on this blog on March 30^th. I’ve been working with mango recipes for the next food page and this morning I taped two Lakeland Cooks segments, one being Warm Mango Sauce. Mmmmm. Was that good over creamy vanilla ice cream.

As I was cleaning up the kitchen, a can of Schokinag White Chocolate Baking Chunks and a can of Schokinag Semi-Sweet Chocolate Baking Chunks seemed to be grinning at me from their spot on the counter. They have been tempting me for days. Finally, one afternoon I lifted the cover from the White Chocolate Chunks and nibbled just a few. They were creamy and sweet.

I had never heard of Schokinag chocolate until recently when a friend asked me about it. Apparently, this premium professional-quality chocolate has been a favorite of pastry chefs and chocolatiers for years. It is finally available to home bakers.

Schokinag is one of only a small handful of privately held family-owned chocolate companies. For over 80 years, the family has been making some of the best chocolate in the world in their factory in Southern Germany. All Schokinag products are 100% natural, GMO free and Kosher Dairy.

I knew I had to bake these large, flat, irresistible chunks in something special. With mangoes on my mind, I decided to try mixing chunks of the fruit with chunks of the Schokinag. My favorite muffins have dried apricots, chocolate and walnuts baked into them. I love that combination. So, why not put chopped fresh mangoes, chocolate, white chocolate and sweet macadamia nuts into my base recipe for scones?

I took them out of the oven just a little while ago. I tasted one while it was still warm. The chocolate chunks were melted and smooth. The texture of the nuts was just right with the little bits of juicy mango.

These scones might be just what you need when you get home from church on Easter. Brew up some rich dark coffee or prepare your favorite tea and sip, nibble and savor while you watch everyone else hunt for Easter eggs.

Mango-Chocolate Chunk Scones

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Pinch of ground ginger
• ½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
• ½ cup sugar, divided
• ½ cup semisweet chocolate chunks
• ½ cup white chocolate chunks
• 1 cup macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• ½ cup half-and-half
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ½ cup chopped fresh mango
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Sift flour, baking powder, salt, ginger and ¼ cup sugar into large mixing bowl. Add cold butter cubes and work the ingredients with a pastry cutter/blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in chocolate and white chocolate chunks and nuts. Add cream and half-and-half and vanilla until almost combined. Gently stir in mango.

Drop 4 mounds of dough on each baking sheet, leaving 1 or 2 inches between mounds.

Stir together remaining ¼ cup sugar and lemon zest. Sprinkle over tops of mounds.

Bake scones, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until puffed and golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer scones to a rack and let cool 10 minutes before eating. Makes 8 scones.

• Schokinag baking chocolate and drinking chocolate can be ordered from their website.

• If you have a food processor, pulse the flour, baking powder, salt, ginger, sugar and butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Then transfer to a large mixing bowl and continue as directed.

It’s the third day of April. One would expect blue sky, sunshine and robins pulling worms from the earth. But not here in northern Minnesota. It’s snowing. Snow is forecasted to continue throughout the day. It will be a good day to pull out a couple of recipes from my “To Try” file.

Thankfully, there are signs of spring in the produce department. When I was at the market the other day, I couldn’t resist a bunch of tender young asparagus. Visions of a meal of grilled asparagus and mango-stuffed chicken breasts raced through my mind. I plucked a slender group of stalks from the water and began to make plans for a springtime meal.

After a couple of days of waiting for sun to shine down on the grill on my deck, the asparagus in my refrigerator was beginning to look a little limp. Cold, wet weather mandated a change of plans for my asparagus menu.

The asparagus would roast in the oven rather than cook on the grill. I’d toss it in olive oil along with slices of the last of my cipollini onions. Mango-stuffed chicken breasts would have to wait. Instead, chicken would be chunked up, sautéed with sliced sweet red peppers and tossed into pasta with a light sauce.

The asparagus was delicious and for at least a little while, I caught a glimpse of spring in my kitchen.

Oven-Roasted Asparagus

• 1 pound fresh asparagus
• Thinly sliced onion (red onion or cipollini are good choices)
• 1 to 2 tablespoon extra-virgin lemon olive oil
• 1 to 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• Coarse salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts

In a small skillet over medium heat, stir pine nuts until they begin to turn golden brown. Remove from heat and transfer pine nuts to a small plate to cool.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Snap off the tough ends of asparagus. In a large bowl, toss asparagus and sliced onion with lemon olive oil. Arrange in baking dish and roast for 10 to 15 minutes, or until asparagus is tender and dark green.

Remove from oven. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with toasted pine nuts. Makes 4 servings.

• Lemon olive oil is made by crushing fresh lemons with olives. The zesty flavor adds an extra sparkle to asparagus. These days, flavored olive oils can be found in many grocery stores. Extra virgin olive oil along with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a little grated lemon zest can be used in place of the extra virgin lemon olive oil.
• Flat little cipollini onions are sweet and delicious. They are not easy to find. Mine came from the local farmer’s market last season. And now I will have to live without them until the new crop appears.
• When shopping for asparagus, choose firm stalks with tightly closed buds. Store the spears in the refrigerator, standing upright in a jar with some water in it, just like flowers. Before cooking, grasp asparagus at either end and snap. The stalk will break naturally at the point where it begins to get tough and stringy.