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Chunky Pear  Nut  Cake

2/28/2015

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Chunky Pear Nut Cake
A moist and delicious cake, easy to make and flavored with spices and juicy pears.
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These days, I wander around grocery stores like I used to wander around clothing stores. In Santa Cruz, we are fortunate to have several grocery stores that carry a wide variety of healthy food. I have my favorite stores and several weekly farmers' markets to choose from. We have some great bakeries and delicatessens too. I feel spoiled when I look at all the choices I have. I like to know where food is coming from—not enriched or altered with unnecessary chemicals and additives. I trust some stores more than others. One of the reasons I don't bake as much as I used to is that it is just so tempting to get something very tasty from one of my favorite places. But there are times when I need to have something homemade on my kitchen counter, like this moist and easy-to-make pear cake. ​
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The credit for this well-loved cake goes to Gale Gand, a nationally acclaimed pastry chef from Illinois. I found her recipe in an old magazine years ago and have been making it whenever pears are in season. However, this cake is easily made with any other fruit and whatever nuts you have in the pantry. I roast my nuts, and prefer using pecans instead of walnuts. The spices in the recipe add a distinct flavor and are well balanced. I also reduced the amount of sugar by one third. I use canola oil, but any vegetable oil will do. The cake is flavorful, moist and tastes even better the next day.

One of my first blog posts were crepes filled with goat cheese and mushrooms. I make them for my niece when she comes to visit me from Germany.
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A moist and delicious cake, easy to make and flavored with spices and juicy pears.
Print Recipe
Ingredients

12 servings

1 cup golden raisins
2 cups all-purpose flour 
3 eggs 
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract 
1 cup canola oil
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon 
½ tsp. ground cloves
½ tsp. ground allspice 
2 cups peeled pear chunks 
(from about 3 pears) 
1 cup toasted and chopped pecans or walnuts














Lemon Juice  Glaze 

1 cup powdered sugar
1-3 TBS lemon juice

Marple Syrup Glaze

½ cup maple syrup
1 ½ cup powdered sugar
Directions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Roast the nuts for 8 minutes or less. 

Toss the raisins in 2 TBS flour to prevent them from sinking in the cake batter. 

Beat the eggs and sugar mixture until yellow and fluffy for several minutes.

With the mixer running slowly pour in the oil and the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. 

Mix into the egg mixture, don’t over mix.

Stir in the nuts, pears and raisins.

Spray a 10-inch tube pan with cooking oil. Spoon the mixture into the pan and bake for 45 minutes or more until dry in the center. Test with a toothpick. The cake is done when an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Let the cake cool on a wire rack, then turn it upside down.

Glazes

Stir the ingredients of the glaze you have chosen until smooth and has no lumps. Start with a little liquid, adding more when needed. Spoon the glaze over the cake, letting it drip down the sides.

Guten Appetit!
recipe by Gale Gan
​
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Jägerschnitzel  (Breaded Pork Cutlets With Mushroom Sauce )

2/17/2015

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The schnitzel is a boneless  piece of meat, thinned with a meat tenderizer, coated with flour, beaten eggs and bread crumbs, and then fried. ​
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By adding a mushroom sauce, a schnitzel becomes a Jägerschnitzel. There are many versions of the Jägerschnitzel or hunter's cutlet in Germany and Austria.
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​I'm back home in my beautiful costal town in California, but my thoughts are often in Germany, my native home. As I reflect on my mother’s recent passing, memories are resurfacing from my childhood. On our farm, Sunday was always a day of rest.  No one was supposed to work on Sunday, except for chores like feeding the animals. And then there was the Sunday lunch, the most special meal of the week. Lunch was the big hot meal of the day, like an American dinner. During the week, the lunches were stews and simple meals, but on Sundays things were different. There were puddings for desert, maybe a clear broth for soup to begin with, followed a main course of a meat roast, a chicken or duck, or pork chops made into schnitzels, which is my favorite.
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I think the schnitzel was invented by a very clever cook to double the size of the pork chops—by pounding them and coating them in eggs and breadcrumbs. The French and Italians use the same method in their recipes. The schnitzel is similar to the French dish escalope and scallopini in Italian. To enrich the dish, sauces were invented. If the schnitzel has a mushroom sauce, it is called Jägerschnitzel (Jäger means hunter). When the sauce is made with peppers, it becomes a  Zigeunerschnitzel (a gypsy schnitzel).  In my recipe, I combined the mushrooms and peppers to make a flavorful sauce. I had the leftover sauce with baked spaghetti squash and it was delicious. I can imagine serving it over different grains. I just like to add vegetables whenever I can. If you don't have time to make the sauce,  the breaded schnitzel is good by itself, served with a good beer, a salad and some bread.
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​This is a Jägerschnitzel I had in Germany prepared by a Michelin starred chef in her restaurant. She served it with fried potatoes.
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If you want to stay with the German Theme try this Apple Strudel Cake . I have been baking this cake as long as I can remember.
Jägerschnitzel  Recipe
Print Recipe
Ingredients


Mushroom sauce

1 large red onion 
1 lb. mixed mushrooms
 shiitake and/or button mushrooms 
1 red pepper
4 TBS olive oil 
4 TBS butter
2 cups vegetable broth
2 TBS tomato paste
3/4 cup creme fraîche 
4 TBS flour 
salt, pepper and paprika to taste

 

























​The Schnitzel 


6 boneless pork chops 
1/2 cup flour
2 cups panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
1 beaten egg
3 TBS canola oil
2 TBS butter
chopped parsley
salt and pepper
​​
Directions


Mushroom Sauce

Peel the onion, cut in half and then cut into ¼-inch slices

Clean the mushrooms with a wet cloth and cut them into thick slices.

Clean and chop the pepper.

Heat 2 TBS olive oil and 2 TBS butter, sauté the mushrooms for several minutes until they are slightly browned, and season with salt and pepper. 

Remove the mushrooms with a slotted spoon, add a little bit more oil and sauté the onions for several minutes. Add the peppers and continue to cook for about 5 minutes. 

Remove the veggies with a slotted spoon. 

Melt the other 2 TBS butter and 2 TBS olive oil in a pan, add the flour and sauté for a minute or so, until the flour turns a light pale color. 

Add a little of the heated broth, stirring constantly to prevent lumps. When smooth, add the rest of the broth, the tomato paste and cook for a few minutes. Add the creme fraîche and stir until smooth. Add the vegetables and season with salt, pepper and some paprika. Keep the sauce warm while the schnitzels are being done.
 

The Schnitzel

Pound the pork chops between 2 sheets of plastic wrap to about a ¼-inch thickness. 

Season the flour with salt and pepper and put it on one plate, the beaten egg on a second plate and the panko on a third plate.

Dredge the pork cutlets first in the flour (shake off excess) on the first plate, then in the beaten egg on the second plate, and finally in the breadcrumbs on the third plate.

Keep the pork cutlets covered in the fridge until you are ready to cook them. 

Heat the oil and butter mixture until hot, add the pork cutlets and cook evenly on both sides, about 5 minutes each. Drain on a paper towel and serve with the sauce. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Guten Appetit!
©sunnycovechef
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Potato Pancakes (Kartoffelpuffer)

2/5/2015

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Potato Pancakes (Kartoffelpuffer)

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My blogging buddy, Cecilia, from the Kitchengarden blog has asked me to share a story from my family farm in Germany, as well as a recipe for German potato pancakes. I have to make a confession though: I have never made potato pancakes before. Oh, I have eaten them a hundred times—at my mother’s, at friends’ houses, and at those little outdoor stands in Germany that you find in every town or carnival. The problem is, I can't stop eating them once I start. These crunchy, crispy pancakes are downright addictive. My favorites are the ones that my mom used to make with her homemade applesauce. She would feed crowds with them. I would ask her for the recipe, and she would say, “Well you grate the potatoes, put onions in them if you have them, and add some flour, eggs, and salt and pepper.” "How much mom?” I would ask. “Well, until it looks right,” she would say. 
My mom seldom used measurements to cook. Some of my German friends use potato starch as a thickener and some use flour. Some drain the potatoes and use the leftover potato starch at the bottom of the bowl. Like I said before, I like to eat them with applesauce but have also eaten them with sauce made from quark (a German fresh cheese made from buttermilk), lox and creme fraîche or as a side with different dishes. I use Yukon potatoes, because they remind me of potatoes that are grown in Germany.
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What else is happening in my kitchen?  Blood oranges are in season at our farmer's market right now and I love  my homemade orange marmalade. The other day, I made a double batch and used half the sugar that my recipe calls for. The consistency of it was much softer, especially the orange peel, and it has a tart, almost bitter flavor. I like both versions and plan on making a third batch experimenting with the amount of sugar.
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These potato pancakes make a tasty treat for any meal. ​
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Grating the potatoes and onions
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Draining the potato onion mixture
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The mixture
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Frying the potato cakes
Print Recipe
Ingredients

Makes about 12 pancakes 

2 lbs. potatoes ( I used Yukon potatoes)
1 white onion 
2 eggs
3 TBS flour 
2 tsp. salt
¼ cup canola oil
Directions

Peel the potatoes and onions. Grate the potatoes and onion using a box grater. 
Let the mixture drain through a sieve.
Transfer the mixture to a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. 
Mix everything well. The potato mixture can be drained again if it has too much liquid.
Heat  2TBS oil per batch on medium high. 
Reduce the heat to medium low and spread 1/3 cup of the mixture in a circle in the pan, pressing down.
Fry for about 2-3 minutes per side until golden-brown and crispy around the edges. 
Drain the pancakes on paper towels and keep them warm in the oven. They are best when served immediately. 

Guten Apetit !
© Sunnycovechef
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    WELCOME TO SUNNY COVE CHEF

    Thank you for visiting my blog.  My two passions are cooking and traveling. Traveling exposes me to a wide variety of food and experiences. I walk around cities looking for markets, restaurants, bakeries, shops, you name it, and if it is related to food you will find me there, tasting, smelling, talking to vendors, and having a great time.

    ​
    If you  have tried any of my recipes, snap a photo and tag me @sunnycovechef I'd love to see your creations!​


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