torta di grigna

I hate moving. Not that I get particularly attached to any one location, so the issue isn't the fact that I'm leaving a house I've lived in for 11 years. I will miss the familiarity, of course, but as for the house itself. Well, when you're moving about 2 miles away, it's not going to be much of a loss.

The problem with moving is the moving. The boxes, the cleaning, the stress, discovering old things you thought you had thrown away, and regret not having thrown away because they bring back awkward memories of your childhood idiocy and embarrassing old hobbies [though, mountains upon mountains of Barbie dolls and miniature toy cars make quite an interesting dichotomy].

It's Sunday afternoon, and between absorbing the defense's closing arguments in the Casey Anthony trial [yes, I have been following this trial since my return home, and find it highly interesting, if not very sad] and listening to my father steam-clean the carpet for pending potential buyers coming to visit the house, I imagine how hectic the next month or so is going to be. Full of stress, cleaning, and boxes.

After all, there are 11 years of memories in this house. That's quite a lot to fit into cardboard and ship off.

Nonetheless, today I go back to the apartment, and I'll be there for the next two weeks. [Note that my return home aligns perfectly with the release of Deathly Hallows Part II. This is not a coincidence.] And by then, I assume I will spend my weekend home folding clothes and squeezing trinkets into small compartments, trying my best not to break anything [and probably failing anyway].

So it was only fitting that when I baked a chocolate and almond cake this morning, mom solemnly told me, in no uncertain terms,

"Sabeen, this is the last cake you are ever going to bake in this house. Ever."

I responded with a raise of my eyebrow and look of deadpan indifference. And then we both laughed, sliced the cake, and took a break from the chaos.

Since the start of the summer, I am pleased and mortified to say that I have ordered 5 new cookbooks. This brings my total collection up to...a number which is far too disconcerting to share. [Also, I'm not exactly sure how many. But it is a lot.] One, which I am currently enjoying immensely, is Jessica Theroux's Cooking with Italian Grandmothers. Jessica shares colorful stories of her year spent in Italy, traveling from Tuscany to Sicily, staying with twelve or so different nonne, tasting and cooking her way through the country's diverse, regional cuisine.

Basically, what I wish my life was always.

This torta di Grigna, or cocoa and almond cake, comes from the mountains of Lombardia. It's a dense cake, though not terribly sweet, so would be perfect with afternoon tea or coffee.

Or, if you're me, some sweetened cream or vanilla ice cream on the side to make it decadent.

Torta di Grigna
Adapted from Cooking with Italian Grandmothers

You'll need:

• 1 1/2 cups [2 1/2 sticks] unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 5 large eggs, separated
• 3/4 cup heavy cream [substitute with whole milk if cream is unavailable]
• 1 cup raw almonds, chopped
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a 9-inch springform pan.

In a bowl, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks and cream and mix on medium-high speed until fully incorporated, 3-4 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in half of the chopped almonds [reserve the other 1/2 cup], flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and stir until blended. The batter is thick and stiff, so it may take a fair amount of effort to mix the batter well.

In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Gently fold the egg whites into the cake batter, stirring with the wooden spoon. Spoon the thick batter into the prepared pan and spread it out evenly. Sprinkle the top of the cake with the remaining chopped almonds.

Bake for 60-70 minutes, until the center of the cake is springy, but not jiggly, and the edges of the cake begin pulling away from the sides of the pan. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before transferring to a serving plate. Serve warm or at room temperature.

It's a pretty good cake. Airy and light, despite the denseness, and the flavor of the almonds is warmly nutty without being too overpowering.

It was also a nice centerpiece for the downstairs table for our potential buyers, so a win-win situation all around.

On an unrelated note, I have never had more television shows on my list than I do currently. I did have an entire week to get to it, but I honestly think I watched a grand total of maybe 3 hours of TV since my return. [The trial doesn't count. That's current events. And anything relevant to life never counts as a waste of time.] But, really, when did television actually get good again? Sherlock, Camelot, Rome, Battlestar Galactica, How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family, the list goes on.

Good thing I've got nothing else to do for the next six weeks.

blueberry sour cream torte

I love tortes. LOVE them. I've had some sour cream sitting in the fridge, and I wanted to put it to good use. So when I went home last weekend, I exploited my mother's credit card to purchase frozen blueberries [hey, frozen fruit is expensive!] to make this torte.

I figured today was as good as any to go ahead and bake it; it's been one of those super lazy Saturdays, staying in [aside from my Farmer's Market run with Rudhdi this morning and getting caught up in game-day traffic], napping [or failing to do so], feeling like crap [something's going around campus these days, ugh].

Okay, so mainly I wanted to bake something to lift my spirits a bit. But hey, it worked.

Plus, it was a lovely way to end our dinner of chicken jalfrezi earlier.

Now, tortes are dense cakes made with ground nuts in place of the majority of flour used. They're fantastic because they lower the glycemic index of usually very high-GI desserts [ignore the cups of sugar that go into them...], but also because they have very nutty, crispy, rich crusts.

And everyone knows crust is the best part of any dessert.

Though, when said dessert has a filling made of 4 cups of blueberries and a creamy, tart, topping made of sour cream, it's a pretty close call.

Blueberry Sour Cream Torte
Recipe adapted from Dana Treat

For the crust, you'll need:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup almond meal
• 2/3 cup ground almonds
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 stick butter, somewhat softened, but not warm

For the blueberry filling, you'll need:

• 4 cups fresh blueberries [or thawed if frozen]
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• zest of one lemon
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup cornstarch

For the sour cream topping, you'll need:

• 2 cups sour cream
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

For crust: combine flour, almond meal, ground almonds, sugar, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment on medium-low speed. Add in butter and increase speed to medium. Combine until dough becomes crumbly and starts to come together. Pour crust into the prepared pan and press evenly over the bottom. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until crust is golden. Remove from oven and let cool. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees as the rest of the torte is assembled.

For filling: in a medium saucepan, combine all filling ingredients. Cook over a medium flame for 3-5 minutes, stirring gently, until blueberries start to bubble and burst. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 3 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.

For topping: In a medium bowl, combine all topping ingredients. Mix until well blended.

Pour filling on top of crust and spread evenly. Pour topping on top of filling and smooth gently with a rubber spatula, without mixing the topping into the filling itself. Bake torte for 45 minutes. Set torte on a wire rack and let cool completely before unsnapping the sides and removing the torte from the pan. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

To be completely honest, I was terrified that this was going to fall apart. I thought the cornstarch wouldn't effectively hold the blueberries together and there would be some fruit spillage of epic proportions.

Not so. It helps that I waited a good two hours while the torte cooled in the fridge before I removed it from the pan and cut it. And it was well worth the wait, because the layers were perfect! The topping didn't even sink into the blueberry layer!

When Noosh and I each took a bite of the torte, we had mixed feelings. It didn't taste quite like I expected it to. I was anticipating some major blueberry flavor. Don't get me wrong, there is a TON of blueberry in it, but the topping really shines through, in a very good way. Plus, the crust is phenomenal.

Oh, mom would be proud. Or irritated.

Seeing as when I told her about the torte, all she texted me was that I'm "focusing more on my culinary skills than on studies." Which is not true!

...and even if it was [which it isn't], cooking is a much better life skill than symbolic logic will ever be.

Ever.