gingerbread

this gingerbread is nothing like a gingerbread cookie: it's moist, dense, slightly sticky, and intensely gingery - everything you wish when you eat gingerbread, and more. this is the sort of thing that would be fabulous on a cold night, topped with whipped cream. it's much better the next day, and keeps well in the freezer

gingerbread

(adapted from claudia fleming)

1c guinness (or other deep, dark stout)

1c dark molasses (not blackstrap)

1/2t baking soda

2c flour

1 1/2t baking powder

2T ground ginger

1t cinnamon

1/4t ground cloves

1/4t freshly grated nutmeg

3 eggs

1c dark brown sugar, packed

1c sugar

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1. preheat oven to 350F. generously (really, quite generously, otherwise your cake will stick to the pan) butter a bundt pan, then dust it with flour; knock out the excess.

2. bring stout and molasses to a boil in a large saucepan and remove from heat. whisk in baking soda, then cool to room temperature.

3. sift together flour, baking powder, and spices in a large bowl. whisk together eggs and both sugars. whisk oil into egg-sugar mixture, then the molasses-beer mixture. add the wet ingredients to the dry, and whisk until just combined.

4. pour the batter into the prepared pan. rap pan on the counter to eliminate air bubbles. bake until a toothpick comes out with just a few moist crumbs adhering, about 50 minutes. cool cake in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack immediately and cool completely.

[serves 10-12]

a paucity of vegetables

it's completely unremarakable that upon returning from taipei and also from palermo, i had dinner with my family.  what is rather odd is the dinner itself - chinese takeout after taipei, and as it happens, italian after palermo.  sadly for palermo, i rather think that the italian i had last weekend in somerville beats out anything i had in sicily.  the sole notable exception would be that breakfast buffet in trapani, specifically the prosciutto and the cornmeal poundcake; even the best dinner in palermo didn't really hold a candle to what you can get stateside.  i was out at pescatore, and we had a salad (arugula and sundry other greens, grapes, caramelized pine nuts, fennel), seared sea bass (sauteed asparagus, saffron risotto), and chicken marsala (mushrooms, butternut squash agnolotti).  there are not many fresh vegetables in either taipei and palermo, so i am fairly certain that i've been craving fresh vegetables and that this is why i so enjoyed pescatore's vegetables.  i will say that objectively, i was surprised by just how fine the vegetables were, especially for winter in boston, land of cranberry bogs.  the sea bass was especially delicious, with good contrast in textures (the asparagus was perfectly tender-crisp), and the saffron risotto was notably not too heavy.  pescatore has certainly upped its game since i was last there, maybe a year ago - before it used to focus more on quantities of seafood, but now the non-seafood entrees have been upgraded.  

if you do go to palermo, check out santandrea for dinner.  i did find the pasta to be a little thick for my tastes, but that could easily be chalked up to a cultural difference.  i don't know, readers; i'm pretty sure that every time i've made pasta or that my roommates have made it, it was better - the pasta was more supple, less coarse in texture, and more pleasurable to eat.