Food In The Fort

I read slowly. I make changes in my life slowly. When the occasion arises and, happily, it’s not very often, I run VERY slowly. So I don’t know why it always take me by surprise that I cook slowly as well. It takes me forever to cut things up, I read the recipe over a million times, I search through the spices for an eternity and dinner is usually ready about an hour later than I originally thought. But maybe that’s okay; maybe food should be lingered over in the preparation as well as in the eating. (Don’t worry, I’m not going to launch into a slow food movement rant at this point.) Maybe I need to embrace my slow cookery because things have a tendency to go wrong when I don’t. Not tragically, just sadly.

A case in point is this wonderful Self-Saucing Chocolate Pudding Cake which comes from Jumbo Empanadas.

This was one of the first things that Leo and I ever made together, back in his apartment in Cherry Valley, NY. It was delightful. Despite the fact that we had to use his downstairs neighbor’s oven because his didn’t work. (He’s moved up in the world and now has a functional oven and some of the burners on his stove work as well.) The last time that I made this, however, I was in a rush and it fell far, far short of that original delight. Looking at the recipe now, I’m not sure how I could have screwed it up. It seems foolproof: a simple batter and an even simpler sauce; the toughest step is boiling the water. But screw it up I did. It was okay – I mean, it was still made of chocolate cake – but I know that I can do better if I take it slower and you, dear reader, can too. So relax, make sure that you have about twenty minutes for prep time and forty five minutes for baking, and then enjoy. Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t know who Patty is, or how she could cram such insane levels of yumminess into one recipe, but her Ricotta and Chocolate Cake recipe is so good that we made it twice in as many days. Of course, when a recipe starts with ricotta cheese, sugar, chocolate chips and not one, but two sticks of butter you pretty much know right away that you have a winner.

Catherine made the first instance of this cake for the students she advises in the International Student Organization meeting at Canterbury School. After sampling it for breakfast, and then seeing the way it was devoured by the students we decided we absolutely had to make it again for ourselves. Despite our springform pan deciding to suddenly fall apart just before putting the cake in the oven (don’t worry — all was saved) it was not a decision we regretted. Read the rest of this entry »