Into the Woods

A week or so ago, a friend forwarded me one of those Internet emails that everyone forwards all over the place. It was a recipe for a chocolate microwave cake, with very appealing photographs. I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I had never heard of making cake in a microwave, but the recipe seemed highly reasonable. I improvised my own version. This is a chocolate cranberry cake.

My favorite cake is a chocolate applesauce cake in which applesauce is the only liquid ingredient. It’s a moist, substantial cake, the kind of cake I like, not an airy cake. I just happened to have some fresh cranberries in the fridge, so I thought, why not. As a confident cook, and because improvising is half the fun, I almost never use recipes. I brought the cranberries to a boil in a tiny amount of water, and stirred in some coconut oil, sugar, and cocoa. I tasted the batter at this point to adjust the sugar. I added a beaten egg, then whole wheat flour sifted with a bit of baking powder. I baked it in the microwave in a mixing bowl. The cake rose nicely and didn’t fall. It came out of the bowl clean. It tasted just as I hoped it would taste — tart, moist, and chocolatey. This is probably about as healthy as a cake can get.

These experimental fritters were a part of two separate quests — the quest for a hearty breakfast low in simple carbs, and the quest for traditional comfort foods that use sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes. Potato salad using sweet potatoes was totally agreeable. This morning I made fried potato cakes with sweet potatoes. As with the potato salad, make them exactly as you would make them with white potatoes. These have some chopped onion, egg for binder, and flaxseed meal as a stiffener.

A galette, traditional in Perpignan during L’Épiphanie.

From my friend in Perpignan, here’s another installment in the series “What they’re eating in the south of France.” Above: a breakfast/lunch baguette with cheese and salad, with coffee.

Basmati rice with lentils, corn, and scallops

Tiramisu ice cream

I think I found a use for those dry hummus mixes. They’re healthy, and they store well, and they make good earthquake or ice storm food for the cupboard, but they’re terrible hummus. Only fresh hummus is worthwhile. However, these mixes make a good binding for vegetable fritters. The fritter above is chopped broccoli, chopped cauliflower (both cooked until just tender) and chopped onions. The vegetables are bound with the instant hummus, and I added egg to make the fritters set from the heat of the frying pan. Fritters are real nice to have when you’ve just got to have something a bit crunchy and fried. These fritters are low carb, low glycemic, and cruciferous to boot. It shouldn’t be hard to make a vegan version if you can find a suitable substitute for the egg.