A shrine of sinful goodness: The Museum of Chocolate in Barcelona

During my spring vacation in March, I spent four scrumptious days in the enchanting atmosphere of bustling, bohemian Barcelona. The seaside beauty boasts the world-famous masterpieces of architect Antoni Gaudí, fine modern art, several stunning parks, sultry nightlife and, of course, delicious local and international cuisine.

My first couple of days were spent rambling around the touristy places, but the third had me eventually straying away from the path of inedible culture into the welcoming warmth of the Museum of Chocolate, cozily nestled off a busy street near the Park of the Citadel in Barcelona. My pleasant anticipation went through the roof as, after paying for my (presumably paper) ticket, I was handed a minibar of 72% fine dark chocolate! This was surely a promising start.



The museum, owned by the city's pastry-makers guild Gremi de Pastisseria de Barcelona, contains an impressive exhibition of printed materials, utensils and informational panels tracing the history of chocolate from the Mayan cultivation of cocoa to the present. The pleasant ambience was complete by the various chocolate replicas of famous buildings and figures from popular culture, placed along the exhibit windows.



It was a lot of fun to read the short, yet informative panels about chocolate. Would you be surprised to hear, for example, that the Swiss lead the world rankings in average annual chocolate consumption per capita - 10 kilograms! Great Britain and Germany follow with 7kg, and only then comes the US with a "modest" 5kg. And how would you react on hearing that in ancient times, when cocoa beans were used as currency, a slave cost 100 beans, and some quality time with a prostitute - only 10 beans, the same as the price of a rabbit! Now, if that isn't sexist, I don't know what is...

The museum also has touch-screen computers where visitors can browse interesting cooking traditions from around the world. I decided to check out the list of traditional cakes from Catalonia - the autonomous Spanish community whose capital is Barcelona.

For example, have you ever heard of Mona de Pascua? It is one of the best-known Catalonian cakes - a circle of brioche dough, decorated with whole hard-boiled eggs. Godparents gave the cake to their godchildren every Easter, adding one more egg each year to match the age of the child until he or she reached the age of 13. At that point, the child was considered an adult and went to Church to receive their first Communion.



On a slightly weirder note, did you know that Catalonians indulge in crackling tarts? This happens on Jeudi Gras, the Thursday before Ash Wednesday. Originally, that was the last day when people could gorge on delicacies as much as they wanted before the start of Lent. Foods traditionally eaten on this day were omelettes and pork, which led to the invention of the crackling tart as an afternoon snack. It is made from puff pastry or brioche dough, covered with carved cracklings and pine nuts and slowly baked until crispy.

Or how about a scissors cake? Confectioners bake sponge cakes shaped like scissors and filled with cream to celebrate the day of Santa Llúcia, the patron saint of seamstresses. On this day, all seamstresses put on their best clothes and proudly walk along the streets, wishing everybody “God keep your eyesight!”

And how would you like a piece of "traditionally modern" steering wheel cake? People prepare it on the day of Saint Christopher, once the patron saint of mariners, but since the invention of the car - the patron saint of drivers as well. The cake is circular in shape, with a small porcelain figure of a car baked inside, which brings good luck to the one who finds it.

In short - do visit if you happen to be around! The Museum of Chocolate is open Monday to Saturday 10am-3pm, Sunday 10am-7pm, and closed on Tuesdays. And it looks like this:

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Vegan Cupcakes are Real Cupcakes

Vegan baked goods are one of those things that when you think about making them, you get a little scared. How will these cookies be able to stay together if I don't put egg in them? Will my icing be buttery and smooth without butter? Would these just be fake cupcakes, looking like a cupcake, but not tasting like one?

Or at least I got scared when I decided to try my hand at vegan cupcakes. I tried out two recipes from the book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, the basic chocolate and the low fat vanilla cupcakes. The ingredients list for the vanilla cupcakes scared me immediately, as it asked for vanilla soy yogurt... and I had no idea one could make soy into yogurt, and I also didn't know where to find it (it turns out Whole Foods is your best bet). The chocolate cupcakes are slightly more familiar when looking at the ingredients list, just substitute wet ingredients for soy milk and canola oil.

Round One: Low Fat Vanilla Cupcakes with Butter Cream Frosting

I made a butter cream frosting for both of these cupcakes, but for the first round of cupcakes (the vanilla), I used another recipe I found online, which called for margarine shortening and granulated sugar. I should have stopped there and said, "Hold on a minute. That can't be right, you can't mix granulated sugar into shortening and make smooth icing!" But I didn't because I was so worried about messing up by not following the recipe... and so I made frosting that had the consistency of wet sand.

The vanilla cupcakes came out a little dense, probably because of the apple sauce and the yogurt. I thought they tasted a little like banana bread... despite not having bananas in them. I had others try them, and no one else thought they tasted like bananas, so it was just me. But they were still good. Not a cupcake I would want to eat every day, but good. The icing was indescribably weird, so I'm going to let you use your imagination with what the "sand icing" might have tasted like... or felt like on your tongue.

Round Two: Basic Chocolate Cupcakes

These cupcakes were not billed as low fat, and used canola oil and soy milk. And I will say right off the bat, these were some of the best cupcakes I have ever made. They were fluffy and moist, not overly sweet. Whenever I have made chocolate cupcakes in the past, they were always a little dense, and so this will be my go to chocolate cupcake recipe in the future.

For these cupcakes I made the butter cream icing from Vegan Cupcakes, which was also very good, but still what I would call, a sub par substitute for real butter cream frosting. If I were going to make these again for non-vegans, I would just put real buttercream on them. For the vegan crowd I would go for a simple confectioners sugar icing, rather than the fake buttercream.

That issue, of needing to find an adequate substitute for many things is one of the reasons I am skeptical of veganism. At some point you have to wonder if it is worth it, if you have chosen not to consume animal products, to go to such lengths to recreate the textures and tastes of, for example, butter. With that small criticism out of the way, I have to say, I am won over by vegan cupcakes at least, they are not fake food... but real food. There has got to be a better way to say that?

Photo credit: chowhound.com from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

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Stewed rhubarb with cornmeal biscuits

It feels like forever since I've seen something new at the farmers' market. I stopped being as diligent about my weekly visits because I can barely get through my sweet potatoes anymore and I'm up to my ears in onions.

For the past couple of weeks, though, I've been hurrying over to the market at opening time and I have been rewarded for my punctuality. First, it was asparagus. This week, rhubarb! I bought two bunches, knowing that it will disappear far too quickly.

So many recipes require pairing rhubarb with another fruit in a pie, cobbler or crisp but I like it enough on its own. I decided to do a sort of rhubarb shortcake by putting together a couple of recipes and buying vanilla ice cream.

The fruit component is simple stewed rhubarb. I didn't have buttermilk so I needed to find a cream-based biscuit. I stumbled upon a pear cobbler on epicurious.com that has a cornmeal biscuit topping that is made with cream and butter. I have some great blue cornmeal that I brought back from the Santa Fe farmers' market so I was eager to try the recipe.

Simple Stewed Rhubarb (courtesy of http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/)

Ingredients:

• 6 cups chopped rhubarb
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons water

Instructions:

In large saucepan, combine all ingredients. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Reduce heat to medium low. Simmer, uncovered and stirring occasionally for about 15 min or until slightly thickened and rhubarb is in threads. Let cool.

Cornmeal Biscuits (adapted from epicurious.com)

I am modifying my instructions for the biscuits here because I had some trouble adapting them from the original recipe to be cooked separately on the pan. The cooking times might need further adjustment.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup stone-ground cornmeal (medium grind)
• 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 2/3 cup chilled heavy whipping cream

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk flour, cornmeal, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt in large bowl. Add chilled butter; rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add cream; stir just until moistened.

Gather dough together; form into 8-inch-long log. Cut log crosswise into eight 1-inch-thick rounds. Sprinkle rounds with coarse sugar and place on parchment-lined baking sheet.

Place a sheet of foil over the biscuits and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover the biscuits and bake for 10-15 more minutes or until they appear golden and cracked.

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Marigold Kitchen

The name Marigold Kitchen is just right for this 74-year-old restaurant on 45th Street. The restaurant is essentially a house—and chef/owner Rob Halpern even lives there, on the third floor—and the warm yellow walls suggest comfort and simplicity.


Chef Halpern invited us back into the kitchen, first demonstrating how he plates his "Beets in Many Forms and Textures" ($9). Just this one plate, which Chef Halpern admitted he personally does not do on a normal dinner hour, consisted of beet powder, a roasted and deep-fried beet, dehydrated grapefruit, beet greens wrapped in pickled rhubarb, beet sorbet, rhubarb gel, rhubarb shaved ice, a beet jelly, a walnut jelly, a dehydrated beet chip, goat cheese and yogurt dressing, sweet soy dressing, and beet-horseradish bubbles.

"A lot of our food is fleeting," Chef Halpern explained as he sat us in the empty dining room to sample the dish (they weren't open yet). Before the bubbles could deflate, we had tried a smidgeon of each component, paying special attention to the sorbet with goat cheese and yogurt. The tinge of sweetness in the savory sorbet, rounded out by the creamy, tangy dressing proved a sublime pairing—one that we could only enhance with a subsequent nibble on the crunchy beet chip.

Chef Halpern didn't always cook like this, and neither did his family; he grew up as a "latchkey kid," venturing to Wawa or cooking pasta most nights with his sister. This lack of culinary tradition, he said, explains why his food tends to be avant garde. Though he flinches at the term "molecular gastronomy" to describe his cuisine, he wants to create dishes that are whimsical and special. "I really like tring to make foods that aren't accessible to the home cook," he said.


Chef Halpern counts Nuno Mendes of The Loft, Grant Achatz of Alinea, Kevin Binkley of Binkley's, and Rob Evans of Hugo's as his biggest influences; he interned with the latter three before returning to his native Philadelphia and buying Marigold Kitchen in 2009. This is the latest permutation of the same location: the restaurant was Marigold Tea Room, Marigold Dining Room, and at one point, an Ethiopian restaurant.

Since reopening in September, the restaurant has kept up with the location's tradition. Their April menu offers a "Medley of Spring Baby Lettuces" ($8) garnished with a marigold. I much preferred the flower's visual/thematic addition over its flavor, but my tastebuds were impressed with how Chef Halpern drew out the red clover's lemony tones with his citrus vinaigrette.


Marigold's dining style is in tune with the small plates trend, and Chef Halpern prefers to serve his 11-course tasting menu ($85) over anything else. In fact, he is trying to bring down the price point in order to make the menu more accessible to more customers; plans are in the works for different menus with four ($45), five ($55), and six ($65) courses. But he won't abandon the original 11-course idea; he still wants to "feed people a ridiculously large amount of plates," even if they're not listed on the menu. He envisions all kinds of mini-courses between the larger ones to give customers the complete Marigold experience.

Our last "course" was lamb in a yellow curry with a samosa and tamarind bubbles. The curry was more subtle than spicy, delicate enough to follow the flavors of the beets and salad. Framed on two corners by cooked carrots, zucchini, and small onions, the dish's colors stood out as much as its tastes. Chef Halpern followed this last course with small goblets of homemade orange soda and mini gingersnap ice cream sandwiches.

Marigold is worth the short walk a few blocks west of campus for both the blending of flavors and the feeling of coming home. In a few short months, Chef Halpern has recreated this space so it fits right in with West Philadelphia and still showcases his flair for innovative cuisine.

photos by Michael Chien

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My friend and I stumbled upon Sakura at 1038 Race St. during our last adventure in Chinatown. Sakura is a apparently chain restaurant in Shanghai, so we decided to try it out. We were pleasantly surprised. Sakura serves a blend of Chinese and Japanese cuisine. They're definitely more upscale compared to typical "whole-in-the-wall" establishments. The interior is pretty classy, and the overall ambience is tranquil but lively at the same time. The food was excellent and very fresh. I personally found the Chinese food more authentic than typical takeout places. We ordered an order of spicy wontons and juicy pork buns as appetizers (that could easily pass for a meal). At $4.95, the soup dumplings are definitely pricier than other places, but I have yet to find better soup dumplings elsewhere in Chinatown. The spicy wontons were covered in a sesame sauce, which was different but tasty. My friend went for the mapo tofu, and I went for the bento box, which came with a salad with ginger dressing that had bits of fresh mango it in. I wanted to bottle that dressing and bring it home. Overall, Sakuza was worth the trip. I'll have to go back sometime and get more soup dumplings.

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Moroccan Culinary Delights: Part II

So here I am again, with the second installment of mouth-watering Moroccan foods.

Meat

The meat question might seem tricky in Morocco where the great majority of the population is Muslim and therefore doesn't eat pork. However, you will be surprised at the various tasty alternatives - chicken, beef, veal, lamb, mutton and seafood feature regularly on the table in all kinds of tantalizing dishes. Brochettes, or grilled pieces of meat on metal sticks, are an extremely popular fast food, usually served with salad and fries or with grilled vegetables. Whole chickens roasting on a rotating spit can be found anywhere, and Moroccans have perfected the technique to ensure that all parts of the chicken stay succulent on the inside, with a crispy layer of skin on top. Meat is a prized addition to tajines (clay pot stews with various ingredients) and couscous dishes, with the addition of potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, or squash, among others. And of course there's kalia. This mixture of cooked meat and eggs is a very popular cheap street food, usually served on bread as a sandwich or cooked with veggies in a tajine.

Some of the more unusual meat dishes include roast sheep's heads (which I never got to try) and snail soup, sold by street vendors in the evenings and sending out a pungent aroma not advised for delicate stomachs. Usually, only locals crowd at the stalls and eat the snail broth from small bowls provided by the vendor. If you still feel like having a warm bowl of comfort, head over to the restaurants offering harira - a thick tomato-based soup, which can include chickpeas, lentils, noodles and possibly a little meat. Traditionally, it is served with hard-boiled eggs eaten on the side with salt and cumin.

Tea

Moroccan mint tea is not simply a drink - it is a cultural marker in itself, and the ritual of tea-drinking involves several important points. A traditional tea-drinking set consists of a tray, several small glasses, a shiny teapot with a curved spout for easy pouring, and a special cover for the pot to keep the tea warm. The first cup of tea is never drunk - Moroccans pour it back into the teapot to mix and oxidize the drink, bringing out its flavor - sometimes more than once. Afterwards, the tea is poured from high up to add oxygen bubbles to each glass. Typically, tea is very sweet (for western standards), and if it has been prepared without sugar, a Moroccan can add one to two tablespoons to their glass - or alternatively, several sugar cubes. If you'd like your tea slightly sweet, you have to specially ask for it, or request sugar on the side. To go with tea, Moroccans have invented an immense variety of tempting cookies made with almond paste, olive oil, ground nuts, honey or sesame seeds.

- Zhana Sandeva

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Bithday-Worthy Desserts from the Confines of a College Dorm Room: Cheesecake Edition

In high school, my birthday present to all my friends was always some form of over the top, decadent dessert that didn't necessarily exist yet. I would ask them to dream up whatever elaborate concoction they desired and then scourer cookbooks and the internet and use a generous dose of ingenuity to put together everything from a Starbuck's pumpkin spice latte in cake form to a coffee cookie dough giant ice cream sandwich cake. To all my college friends, I'm sorry but without the time, space, or a kitchen full of gadgets to rival Foodnetwork that I had in high school I've been pretty limited to brownies, cookies, and the occasional cupcake when it comes to supplying the sweets for various celebrations.

That said, I'm always looking for a way to push the limit in terms of just how gourmet a dessert I can supply without having to locate difficult or expensive ingredients or remedy the fact that despite my legacy the only baking implements I've invested in are a cookie sheet and a muffin tin. I wish I could take credit for the recipe that just might be the best solution to this conundrum but to be honest I found it while browsing the blogs linked from Penn Appetit looking for inspiration for a friend's birthday this past weekend.

The recipe (and the pictures in this post) for mini cookies and cream cheesecakes can be found here -- see! only seven ingredients required and bakes in under half an hour (of course, don't forget about chilling time as hot cheesecake is not exactly appetizing).

Despite what the directions indicate, these can be made without an electric mixer if one has the right determination and a willingness to substitute baking for a trip to the gym that day.

The results were spectacular and convenient. Unlike a full-sized cake, these are easy to serve and don't even require sitting down to eat. The crowd (including the birthday girl) was so impressed I'm almost ashamed of how easy these were to make. But on the off chance someone reading this blog is inspired to make them for a party and I happen to be at said party and get to partake, I think it's worth the risk!

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Penn Appetit Launch Party

What: Penn Appetit Launch Party
When: Monday April 19 @ 8pm
Where: Bodek Lounge
Description: Come celebrate Penn Appetit's new Spring Issue! Free food from Bon Appetit catering, Cream & Sugar, and Metropolitan Bakery will be served. Also, make sure to get coupons for ice cream cones!
Price: Free!

For more information, see the Facebook invite here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=109847452369177&ref=ts

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Nana's Matzoh Brie

                                         

Growing up, I've had different matzoh bries and for the most part they've been tasty, even though they are quite simple. My Savta's, however, is notably crunchy and exceptionally delicious. She made this and her pink applesauce for my brother and me when we would visit her and my Saba in New Jersey. However, my recent favorite is my Nana's matzah brie, which tiptoes the line between crispy and moist. During Passover this year, since the only form of grain I could effectively eat was matzoh, I called up my Nana and asked her for her recipe and she was, of course, more than delighted to give it to me.

Nana's Matzoh Brie

Note: Use one egg for every two pieces of matzoh

1. Soak matzoh in hot water for one minute (at which point it should be mildly soft)

2. Beat egg(s), add a little milk (1-2 oz.) and pour into a bowl

3. Take matzoh out of water, break into 2-3 inch long and wide pieces, put into bowl containing egg(s) and milk.

4. Mix the matzoh with the egg(s), making sure every piece is covered everywhere. (If the pieces break and become smaller, that's fine though -- it's why the pieces were big in the first place.)

5. Melt butter (I use about a tablespoon's worth) in a frying pan.

6. Move egg-covered matzoh from bowl to pan and fry on medium--keep turning the matzoh.

7. Cook until golden brown, but I encourage you (once the egg covering is fully cooked) to try pieces as you cook the matzoh brie so you can gauge how much moistness and crunchiness you like in your fried matzoh.

8. Serve, add salt and/or pepper as desired.

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A Procrastination Tart

Procrastination and mushy, bordering on inedible, apples have led me to bake this:

I used this recipe from smittenkitchen.com but originally by Alice Waters, who gives due credit to Jacques Pepin. So basically it's a Jacques Pepin tart.

Hours spent pouring over text about American 1950s attitudes toward middle class marriage has left me drained, and faltering on words. So instead, I offer up photographs of my tart baking exploits.

That being said I would like to add that the key to a good tart crust is in always having cold ingredients, even if that means chilling the dough in between steps. Be sure the water is ice cold and the butter is chilled. I even chill the dough in the fridge once rolled and put in the pie shell. I’ve found it makes all the difference in a flakey, light crust.




Ina Garten, whom I love with much of my heart, makes an apricot glaze for her tarts. She melts apricot jam and drizzles it over the tart before putting it in the oven. Inspired by this concept, but lacking apricot jam, I used raspberry jam instead. I added a glob of butter, in true Ina fashion, to the melted raspberry jam as well. I thought this was the needed touch and advise dribbling any melted jam when making this tart.



Also, on a more general note, one way to tell when a tart is done is by looking at the bubbles. Fast, quick bubbles indicate that it’s not quite done but slow, larger bubbles mean that the tart is done and ready to be pulled out of the oven.
As with pies, however hard this may be, I think it is important to let the tart rest before serving. This allows the liquids to turn syrupy rather than be runny.


So as this gem of a paper is due Wednesday, I leave you with this post and hope for more procrastination and possibly baked goods to come.

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