Sometimes I like to feature recipes that did not travel too far, like this one. I went for dinner at a Basque restaurant in San Francisco a few nights ago and one of the dessert item was “gâteau de maïs à la compote de fraises“, cornmeal cake with strawberry compote. Then I realized that there is an Northern Italian cake that sounds just like this one, but I decided to skip dessert since I had a filling appetizer and entrée. I will have to go back and check out the Basque version now!

Everyone knows savory polenta, but there is another sweet version that a few people know, la polenta dolce. Well, if polenta dolce (sweet polenta) is a less famous way of preparing polenta, it is certainly not less delicious. In Lombardia (Milan, Brescia and Monza are the biggest cities) dessert based polenta are not that rare, and this recipe is a typical Lombard dessert and a good member of gastronomia Lombarda. It makes sense, since those regions produce a lot of polenta, when you drive through this area, you see so many corn fields, it’s so obvious that the production and consumption of polenta is high in these areas.

I made a few changes to the proportions but the ingredients are what they’re supposed to be. A good friend of mine from Milan used to eat soft polenta cooked in milk with raisins and sugar and my mom would look at this with a suspicious eye, thinking those people from the North eat funny things. Many Northern regions such as Friuli, Venezia, Piemonte do have their own versions of Polenta dolce and some other polenta-based desserts, but I somehow like this version with almond powder (or flour) and marsala, but if you like cherries, you can also use maraschino which is a Venetian liquor made with cherries (and also available in the US).

You can serve it with any accompaniment you like, I love strawerries and rhubarb compote so much that I can eat it with anything, yogurt, ice cream, cakes, etc…and with this polenta cake it works perfectly. These polenta cakes are delicious, and can be eaten for breakfast as well, they’re not very sweet nor greasy and very hearty.

Ingredients for 6 individual cakes

• 2.11 oz (or 60 g) butter
• 3 eggs
• 2.46 oz (or 70 g) sugar
• 2. 46 oz (or 70 g) white flour
• 3.14 oz (or 90 g) yellow polenta
• 1.76 oz (or 50 g) almond flour (or almond meal)
• 3 tbs marsala or maraschino
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla powder
• 1 tsp baking powder

Strawberry-rhubarb compote – see recipe here

Preparation

Melt butter and in a mixing container combine with sugar. Mix well with an egg beater. Add eggs and mix well for about 10 minutes. Add the rest of the flours carefully, and vanilla, marsala (or maraschino) and baking soda.

Divide in 6 individual molds or a large one. Cook for about 30 minutes in a 370F pre-heated oven.

Let it cool and serve with a berry or fruit compote.

Rhubarb has been on the shelves lately and it has been a while I since used it, so this rhubarb post was overdue.

Rhubarb is often associated with strawberries, but it does make delicious desserts combined with peaches as well. Obviously the final color of the mousse is not as pink as with strawberries, it’s more of an orange pastel tone that looks quite summery.

I don’t know how rhubarb is used in the US, but in France we use it in tarts, and tarte à la rhubarbe is a famous dessert specialty. You have those who love it and those who hate it, so for a long time, I hated it, my childhood friend’s mom always gave us some rhubarb tart, and I could not stand the taste of that long stem which to me tasted like celery. Over the years, I developed a taste for it, and now I love it in compotes mixed with other summery fruits.

Technically rhubarb is a vegetable and is a cousin of sorrel so it can be prepared in savory dishes such as salmon and meat stews.

Rhubarb you can find in the US is different from the one grown in Europe but has a similar taste, it’s a lot redder, so basically the color changes but not the flavor.

I like to use fromage blanc (white cheese and I am not sure what it would be called in English) but it’s a fresh cheese often eaten with sugar or fruits, but also popular savory mixed with chives and other herbs. I love to use fromage blanc in those types of desserts, but it’s not easy to find in the US, so I substituted with Greek yogurt which has a similar texture and it worked fine.

*If you are using agar agar (the vegan jellying substance) it needs to be dissolved in liquid before using, then it needs to cook in the mixture for a few minutes. If using gelatin sheets, soften it in cold water then add the the hot mixture but does not need to boil like agar agar.

Ingredients for 6

For the rhubarb mousse

• 1 lb rhubarb, peeled, cut in 1 inch pieces
• 3 yellow ripe peaches, peeled and cut
• 4 tbs sugar or more to taste
• 1 tbs orange blossom water
• 4 g agar agar dissolved in liquid or 3 gelatin sheets

For the yogurt mousse

• 200 g greek yogurt or fromage blanc
• 2 eggs
• 4 tbs sugar
• crème fraîche whipped or whipped cream (optional)

Preparation

In a large pot, mix rhubarb, peaches and sugar and cook at low heat until the mixture turns soft and is cooked. Remove from heat and mash with a potato masher. Add orange blossom water. While the fruit mixture is still hot, add gelatin* see above for agar agar or gelatin use.

Let the mixture cool and place in the refrigerator until it hardens a little.

For the yogurt mousse, mix yolks and sugar and beat until the mixture whitens and doubles volume. Add yogurt of fromage blanc carefully. Beat whites and add to the yolks. Whip the cream and add to mixture carefully.

Place in individual cups and alternate one layer of rhubarb/peach mousse and yogurt mousse. Place in the refrigerator for one hour before serving.

When you feel like being in the Limousin, you make clafoutis. It’s a specialty dessert originally made with whole black cherries. Limousin is in the South-Western region of France (to me it’s more Central than West) where the porcelaine de Limoges comes from.

I love the sound of the word clafoutis, I think it could be a great name for a girl “Clafoutine”. Je m’appelle Clafoutine, don’t you think it sounds cute? 

This weekend I was all excited about making my first torta primavera, it’s basically an Italian chocolate cake stuffed with a strawberry mousse. It turned out a complete disaster. The mousse was too liquid. When I cooked the strawberries, I did not remove the liquid before mixing them, the mousse ended up being liquid, so when I tried to put the mousse on the first layer of the cake, it would go all over the place. I was ready to throw everything in the garbage, then I figured I would try to save it and it ended up thickening while in the refrigerator since I had put some gelatin, but in the meantime, the cake had a very messy appearance. Looked like someone had a fight with it. Taste was OK but really it did not look too appetizing.

Since my last dessert was terrible, I decided to make another one I would not ruin this time. Why stop at a failure? Everyone can make a clafoutis, it’s very simple, you just need the right quantities. I had bought some rhubarb this weekend that kept looking at me anytime I would open the refrigerator door. So I decided to stop the staring game.

I added yogurt to the batter and palm sugar to enhance the flavor and I really liked it. I ate it still warm, so there was a little juice at the bottom, but was nonetheless delicious.

Ingredients for 6-8

• 1.5 lb rhubarb
• 1/2 pint blueberries
• 3 eggs
• 2.8 oz palm sugar
• 2.5 oz regular sugar
• 2 oz flour
• 5 tbs plain yogurt
• 2.5 oz milk
• 2.5 oz heavy cream
• vanilla powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbs sliced almonds

Preparation

First, wash rhubarb, peel and add 2 tbs sugar. Let sit for about 30 min. Remove liquid from the rhubarb. 

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs with sugar. Add yogurt, cream and milk. Add vanilla powder and extract, then add flour. Mix well.

Butter and oven dish, place rhubarb, and washed blueberries. Add batter on top. Sprinkle with sliced almond and cook for about 30 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 375F.