Monthly Cooking Adventure: Gateau chocolat blanc et cerise (White Chocolate and Cherry Cake)

If I could only have one food for the rest of my life? That's easy: Pez. Cherry flavored Pez. -- Stand By Me.

Sorry for the extended silence but there have been many changes chez nous. In short ... we moved! Goodbye Lincoln Center and hello Washington Heights! This is a total change of area, apartment, (kitchen!) and commute but, while we now spend a bit longer on our subway rides, the changes are definitely for the best.

So after taking a few days to organize my "perfect" kitchen (using help from various sources), we invited some friends over and turned June's Monthly Cooking Adventure (just a few days late) into a 4th of July Housewarming Party. And how did I break in the new kitchen, you ask? By going off-diet and making a wonderful Gateau chocolat blanc et cerise (White Chocolate and Cherry Cake), Poivrons rouges farcis aux carottes (Red Peppers Stuffed with Carrots) and Corn and Edamame Salad with Mint. (Links are to recipes I adapted.)

**A note about the cake: This was my first time working with white chocolate (and I'm already not much of a baker) so I learned a lot along the way. The biggest issue was that I used too much butter (since white chocolate already has such a high butterfat content) so I ended up pouring off excess oil after the cake was cooked. I've adjusted the ingredient amounts below to reflect what I believe will work but, if you make it, use your best judgment and let us know how it turned out! Also, while my inspirational recipe (from Chocolate & Zucchini) didn't include one, I've added an (optional) crumble topping. This cut the sweetness nicely and also provided a texture contrast. I highly recommend this with vanilla ice cream. Bon appetit!

Gateau chocolat blanc et cerise
inspired by Chocolate & Zucchini

• 1/4 pound unsalted butter (1 stick) + additional to grease pan
• 8 ounces white chocolate
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4/5 cup heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups cherries, pitted and chopped
• 1/3 cup pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon French sea salt
• 1/3 cup nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, pistachio nuts and/or walnuts), toasted

Start your preparations: Preheat oven to 325 F and butter a 10-inch springform pan.

Microwave white chocolate and butter together for 1 minute, then stir until well-combined.

Add sugar and stir with a wooden spoon. Let rest 5 minutes. Add cream a little at a time, stirring after each addition. Mash cherries, then add to the batter. Sift in flour and salt and stir until just combined.

Pour batter into pan and bake 45 minutes. Turn off oven and leave cake in there to rest for 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely, unclasping sides of the pan. Sprinkle top with nuts. Once it's room temperature, transfer to refrigerator and let chill several hours (at least 4). Enjoy!

Edible Inspirations:

• Moelleux chocolat et framboises from Histoire sans faim
• Chocolate-Raspberry Layer Cake from Bon Appetit Magazine
• Raspberry and Chocolate Ganache Cake with White Chocolate Buttercream from Evil Shenanigans
• Mini Black Raspberry & White Chocolate Crepe Cakes from Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free
• Raspberry White Chocolate Chip Ice Cream from Cherry Tea Cakes

Chunky Banana Bran Muffins

Without a doubt, February has been the banana month. I think it's something about the weather (not that it's been particularly wintry this month but bear with me): when it's cold, I crave sweets. Not sugar so much but definitely fruits. And heavier foods. And spices (especially cinnamon). All of these lead me to baking, hence the influx of muffins.

So when the end of the month rolled around and it was time for our Monthly Cooking Adventure, I knew I wanted to make something with bananas. I was inspired by a recipe from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa at Home. I wanted to make the flavor more complex, however, so I added a sour undertone with creme fraiche and lemongrass. Not wanting the sour to be overpowering, in went some sweet cinnamon and nutmeg. That led us to "theme" the evening "Breakfast for dinner" so some Beet Pancakes with Pomegranate Syrup came along for the ride. To round it all out, we drank the vegetarian's Pomegranate Mimosas. Bon appetit!

Chunky Banana Bran Muffins
inspired by Barefoot Contessa at Home

• 2 cups wheat bran
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons creme fraiche
• 3 medium eggs
• 2/3 cup blackstrap molasses
• zest from 1/2 orange
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons lemongrass, minced very finely
• 1/2 teaspoon safflower oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, ground
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly ground
• 2 cups raisins
• 2 bananas, diced
• 2 cups walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If desired, fill muffin pans with paper liners. In a medium-sized bowl, stir together wheat bran and buttermilk. Set aside. In a food processor, cream together butter and sugar for 5 minutes.

Add creme fraiche, eggs, molasses, orange zest, vanilla extract, lemongrass and safflower oil, pulsing 1-4 times and then scraping down the sides after each addition. Add the bran-buttermilk mixture and pulse another 4 times. In a clean large bowl, stir together cinnamon, flour, baking powder, baking soda and nutmeg. Add to food processor in three stages, pulsing 5 times and scraping down the sides after each addition. Don't overmix! Fold in raisins, bananas and walnuts. Fill muffin pans full with batter and bake 25 minutes. Makes 24 muffins.

Links to other banana cinnamon delicacies:

• Banana Muffins with Cinnamon Sugar Streusel from OliePants
• Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread from Big Mama's Home Kitchen
• Banana Vanilla Cinnamon French Toast from Mama to 4 Blessings
• Cinnamon Banana Bread from Man and Van Moving Blog
• Banana, Blueberry, Cinnamon and Strawberry Yogurt Muffins from Bakersbeans

Pinto Bean Picadillo

The way I see it, there are three ways to cook vegetarian: 1) you ignore that meat ever existed and just come up with your own dishes that only use the ingredients you eat; 2) you find meat recipes and substitute the meat with mock meat; or 3) you find meat recipes and adapt them for your kitchen. Not surprisingly, options one and three are the ones I follow in my kitchen. While I'm sure there are wonderful mock meat products out there, I like my food to taste like itself -- not pretend to be something it isn't. I also have the luxury that, if I'm really dying for some meat, I'll eat it.

But before we get into a political discussion about why people eat vegetarian, let me tell you about this Pinto Bean Picadillo. I first heard about Picadillo last month when the New York Times Dining & Wine Section posted a recipe for Party Picadillo. It was a one-pot dish (and, with the addition of rice, a complete meal). Moreover, they described Picadillo as a "versatile, richly seasoned ground-meat dish from Latin America" and, well, I was hooked. I'd already started making out my grocery list when I realized "wait, if I make this, what will the vegetarian have for dinner?" The ground beef is added too early in the recipe for it to be easy to take out and, moreover, so much of its flavor depends on everything melding together. So I bookmarked the recipe (maybe when we have company for dinner and I make enough sides to satisfy him?) and forgot about it.

Luckily, in search of inspiration, I stumbled on it again. And this time I thought -- let's vegetarianize it! So out went the beef and in went some pinto beans. To reinforce their flavor, I added in some safflower oil and white onions. Finally, because pinto beans are more delicately flavored than ground beef, I upped all the spices. Serve over plain brown rice for a complete protein. Enjoy with a glass of Merlot, followed by a slice of Banana Sour Cream Bread. Bon appetit!

Pinto Bean Picadillo
inspired by The New York Times

• 3 (15-oz.) cans pinto beans, drained
• 1 cup Merlot
• 1/4 cup safflower oil
• 2 white onions, chopped
• 2 green bell peppers, cored and chopped
• 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
• 10 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup Mission olives, pitted and sliced
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon cumin, ground
• 1/2 cup tomato paste
• 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup blanched almonds, sliced
• brown basmati rice, cooked

In a bowl, mix pinto beans and Merlot together well. Let sit so the flavors can meld. Meanwhile, heat oil in a very large pan over low heat. Add onions, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers and garlic and gently saute until softened, about 10 minutes. Stir in olives and raisins, increase heat to medium and add bean and Merlot mixture, including all the liquid that wasn't absorbed. Toss everything together and let cook 10 minutes.

Stir in oregano, cumin, tomato paste, kosher salt and cayenne pepper. Lower heat back to low and cook, covered, 30 minutes. (This is a really good time to make your rice if you haven't already done so).

Top with almonds and serve warm over rice. Serves 6.

Links to other pinto bean delicacies:

• Dad's Pinto Beans from Two Recipes
• Pinto Bean Dip from Crunchy Savings
• Pinto Beans and Yellow Squashes with Green Dressing from Scandi Foodie
• Sticky Baked Lentils & Pinto Beans from Everybody Likes Sandwiches
• Arlie's Pinto Beans from Red, White & Grew