image courtesy 92Y
I am a proud student of Ina Garten. I have been for many years and for many reasons.
This morning at around 5 am I was lucky enough to watch the video of Ina Garten’s visit last night with Danny Meyer at the 92Y. It was the perfect way to start my day on an up note – instead of watching the news!
I love Ina – as you all know by now. Her enthusiasm for what she does, her self-deprecating sense and keen self-awareness is always strongly inspiring to me – as is, of course her creative zest for life and adherence to a well-developed list of strong standards for what she does. Last night’s interview offered a good deal of insight into the way Ina approaches her business, her passion, her travels, her friends and her creativity. It’s definitely worth a watch.
You can read a post I wrote on her here in 2015 here:
In case you missed it yourself, here is the video which was so kindly broadcast live by Kitchen Arts and Letters, the great cookbook store and all-round respected destination on the Upper East Side: (I had the video link this am but it seems to be gone – I have spoken with them and will post the link asap) sorry – I’m working on it!*
One of Ina’s comments concerned how she is always looking for ways to add more flavor to her recipes and specifically, to find those key ingredients that highlight the flavors of others – she mentioned red wine vinegar, a splash of which goes into her Lentil soup at the end and, Cassis and Plums, for example. Often, these special ingredients aren’t even evident, but they add a note to the dish that brings it to another level.
Another was of her constant go-to of citrus zests to brighten flavors of otherwise somewhat bland foods. As I was formulating my projects for today, I returned to one of my favorite affinities – lime and blueberries. As always at this time of year, I am in the midst of the craving of corn muffins. (The other day I made a batch of muffins – 8 of 14 of them were eaten by yes, you guessed it, Harley!) While my mind is already wandering well into Spring and Summer fruit seasons, I always have a deep supply of citrus on my counter, the zests of which I use in many sweet and savory recipes.
Cornmeal is notoriously boring and therefore always calls out for brightening up. This cake was inspired not only by one of my go-to recipes from Ina, her iconic Blueberry Crumb Cake, but also by the aforementioned mid-Winter craving together with the inspiration I always get from Ina’s zest for life! BTW, I have made many iterations of Ina’s crumb cake – some as simple as subbing in raspberries, mixed berries, cherries and peaches – all are sublime! I found some particularly beautiful looking blueberries the other day and they seemed to be destined to go into this cake today.
BLUEBERRY CORNMEAL CAKE WITH LIME
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
3 eggs, separated
8 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
zest of 1 1/2 limes
1/2 tsp almond extract
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup fresh blueberries plus more for top
1/2 cup toasted almonds crushed
zest of 1/2 lime
1 tbsp muscavado sugar butter and muscavado sugar for pan
Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 9″springform pan, line with a round of parchment paper and butter the parchment. Sprinkle muscavado sugar over the bottom and sides. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Beat egg whites in a medium bowl just until medium peaks form. Do not overbeat.
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the lime zest and blend. Add the 3 egg yolks, one at a time and blend in. Add the almond extract and blend. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with 2 additions of the buttermilk. Mix just until incorporated.
Remove bowl from mixer. Gently fold in the egg whites, then the 1 cup blueberries. Pour batter into prepared pan. Smooth with an offset spatula. Arrange blueberries around the top as shown. Sprinkle with the sliced almonds, muscavado sugar and additional lime zest.
Bake for 50 minutes or until puffed, nicely browned, and firm to the touch in middle. Test with a cake tester. Remove from the oven and let cool in pan on a rack for 30 minutes. Gently remove the collar of the pan. Do not run a knife around. Cook cake completely. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkle of lime zest.
*update 2/2: apparently, 92Y did not receive permission to keep the link to the video up – sorry; I’m hoping whoever made this decision will change their mind
