Author: Tux | Brooklyn Homemaker

A food and lifestyle blog focused on gussied up american classics, baked goods with a history, and schnauzer babies.

vegan sweet corn chowder

Sad sad sadness. Summer is nearing the end.

It’s still hanging on, but not for long. One good thing about this time of year though, is…

CORN!

I seriously love fresh sweet corn at the end of summer. Something about that sweet earthy bursting crunch.

While grilling the whole ear and just rubbing it in salted butter might be the very best way to enjoy corn, there are so many things you can do with corn when it’s in season. One of my ultimate favorite things to do with corn in the late summer is take a whole mess of fresh vegetables and make up a sweet, thick, creamy, earthy chowder.

I think my love of corn chowder really took root a few years ago when I was unemployed for a short time. I used to work for a fundraising walkathon called AIDS Walk New York, and while I absolutely loved being involved with them, they could only offer me work for about six months out of the year. This left me scrambling to find work waiting tables or slinging lattes for the other six months, over and over until I was finally able to find a full time permanent position somewhere else.

One year, a great friend of mine found herself unemployed at the same time that I was laid off from the walkathon. We spent a lot of time together helping each other look for work and prepare for interviews, and trying to keep our spirits up with plenty of food. We actually spent so much time cooking and eating together that we started referring to ourselves as the unemployment supper club.

We would regularly try to find recipes that seemed rich and filling while being relatively affordable. One of my favorite recipes we ever made was a corn chowder that was super thick and rich and decadent with tons of cream and butter and bacon. One of my favorite things about the recipe though, was the unexpected number of vegetables the recipe called for, including sweet potato and red bell pepper. Every year since, I’ve made a variation of this recipe at least once every summer, but this year I thought it might be interesting to see if it would be possible to lighten it up, lose the cream and butter and bacon, but keep it every bit as thick and creamy and decadent.

The only problem with trying to make a chowder without cream or butter is the issue of thickening it. A while back i made a soup with roasted cauliflower and tomatoes, and when I decided to puree it I was shocked at how thick it got, so I thought it couldn’t hurt to try that trick again. Its amazing what a roasted and pureed head of cauliflower can do for a soup. It thickens it up like a dream, but it also imparts a velvety smooth creaminess that you’d expect had come from a boatload of butter and flour. Roasting the cauliflower helps release some of it’s moisture ensuring maximum thickening potential, but also concentrates it’s earthiness, adds toasty brown depth, and curbs it’s cabbagey flavor in a way that changes it from utilitarian thickening agent to “secret ingredient” that no one would suspect if they weren’t told.

I will admit that the flavor of this chowder is quite different from the one I used to make years ago. While the flavors of bacon and butter are definitely not present, they don’t at all feel like they’re missing. If you’re a regular reader you know I’m not afraid of butter or bacon, but I promise you won’t miss them. This soup is bursting with fresh late summer flavors. It’s sweet and earthy and rich and hearty and unbelievably thick and creamy. This is a soup to satisfy carnivores and vegans alike.

Vegan Sweet Corn Chowder

Servings: 6-8ish
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1 large head of cauliflower, cleaned and roughly chopped
3 tbsp olive oil, divided
2 1/2 tsp coarse kosher salt, divided
1 tsp ground pepper, divided
3 or 4 ears of sweet corn, stripped *see note (or 1 lb frozen sweet corn)
1 medium onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 lb (2 medium) yellow waxy potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
1 lb (2 medium) sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
6 cups vegetable stock, divided
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 400. Toss cauliflower with 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp salt, & 1/2 tsp of pepper. Spread cauliflower evenly on a parchment lined baking sheet, and roast for 30 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a heavy bottom stockpot over high heat, and sautee corn for 5 to 8 minutes or until it’s just beginning to brown. Remove from pan and set aside.
Turn pot down to medium-high and heat last tbsp of olive oil. Add onions, celery, carrots, bell pepper, 1 1/2 tsp salt, & 1/2 tsp pepper. Sautee for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add potatoes, sweet potatoes, and sautee 5 minutes more. Add 4 cups of stock, thyme sprigs, & browned corn kernel. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
While soup simmers, puree roasted cauliflower in a strong blender with remaining 2 cups of stock. After soup has simmered for 30 minutes, stir in pureed cauliflower. Simmer for 10 minutes more. Scoop out 2 cups of soup, cool slightly, and puree in blender with 1 tsp cider vinegar. Stir back into soup, taste, and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if necessary. (If you want soup thicker, puree another cup of finished soup.)

*cooks note: To remove corn kernels from a fresh ear, I hold the ear upright against a cutting board and shave down with a sharp knife, rotating the ear until it’s shaved clean. For this recipe I also scraped off the remaining starchy corn milk with the butt end of the knife and added it after sauteing the kernels.

honey glazed blackberry cornmeal bundt cake #bundtbakers

Well guys, another month, another bundt cake!

This month’s theme, chosen by our amazing host Laura of Baking in Pyjamas, is “Honey”! I could not have chosen a more perfect flavor to pair with the last bundt cake of the summer if I’d tried. Thanks Laura!

I’m really excited to see what everyone comes up with to pair with this amazing ingredient. Make sure you keep reading past the recipe for all the drool-inducing cakes the #bundtbakers are sharing this month.

honey glazed blackberry cornmeal bundt cake | Brooklyn Homemaker

I’m fortunate enough to have locally produced raw honey at my disposal, so I was thrilled to have a good way to put it to use. At Whisk We sell honey that comes from Brooklyn rooftop hives, and the flavor is amazingly fresh. Each batch of honey produced by the bees has a slightly different color and flavor because they collect nectar from different flowers in different areas depending on the time of year. An unexpected benefit of buying locally produced honey is that since it’s unpasteurized it can help fight against seasonal allergies. The nectar contains traces of seasonal pollens and ingesting them with the honey helps your body build up a sort of immunity to these airborne irritants.

Buying raw unpasteurized honey that comes from a single bee keeper means that you can also be confident that it’s 100% pure honey, with no fillers or added flavors or syrups. The absolute best part of local honey though, is the flavor! It’s bright, light, and summery with subtle hints of herbs and green plants, and smells super floral, clean and fresh.

I could go on and on about raw single hive honey and how it will ruin grocery store honey for you for the rest of your days, but I won’t. Today is about cake, lest we forget. Sweet glorious bundt cake.

I recently made a cornmeal skillet cake that was so simple and homey and unfussy that I couldn’t get it out of my head. When it came time to think of a recipe that would highlight and compliment honey in all of it’s glory, I knew I had to revisit and re-imagine a combination of cornmeal and cake. Since cornmeal has such an earthy rustic flavor I thought it would marry really well with honey, and I was sure that the addition of fresh summer blackberries wouldn’t be unwelcome. Don’t fret if you cant find local honey though. While I’d highly recommend looking for some, I’m sure any honey you have will be completely delicious.

This cake has a double dose of honey, as it’s mixed into the batter and then used to make a glaze that’s poured over after baking. Blackberries and cornmeal are both assertive enough to stand up to the honey so that, while you can certainly taste it, it doesn’t overpower the cake or bring it into the realm of cloying or syrupy.

The cornmeal gives this cake an earthy, rustic flavor and a bite thats somehow both delicate and firm, with just a hint of folksy coarseness. A combination of unsalted butter and cultured buttermilk make sure that the cake is perfectly moist and tender, but I’d recommend serving this the day it’s baked or keeping it well covered for no more than two or three days. The blackberries pair really well with these homey rustic flavors and do their part to make this the perfect dessert for late summer. If you wanted to make this in the spring you could easily substitute tart wild strawberries or fresh blueberries, and in the fall I think diced pears or apples would be amazing.

Honey Glazed Blackberry Cornmeal Bundt Cake

Servings: 12 to 16-ish
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2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided (plus more for the pan)
1 cup fine cornmeal
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened (plus more for the pan)
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup honey
1 Tbs. vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
12 oz fresh blackberries

Preheat oven to 350. Generously flour and butter a 10 cup (+) non-stick bundt pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 cups flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, & salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a standing mixer beat butter, sugar and honey together until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add vanilla, and then the eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Slowly stir in 1/3 flour mixture until just combined, followed by 1/2 of the buttermilk, scraping down sides of bowl after each addition. Continue until all flour and buttermilk is combined. Do not over mix.

In a small bowl toss blackberries in remaining 2 tablespoons of flour. Gently fold berries into batter by hand. Pour into prepared bundt pan and bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Glaze:

1/4 cup Honey
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 to 2 tablespoons milk

Combine honey, confectioners sugar, and butter in a medium bowl. Whisk to combine and thin out to desired texture with milk, 1 tsp at a time. Drizzle evenly over cooled bundt.

Check out all of these delicious honey bundts! What a perfect theme to celebrate the final sunny days of summer.

A Taste of Honey by Margaret at Tea and Scones
Hipy Papy Bthuthdth Thuthda Bthuthdy Cake by Lauren at Sew You Think You Can Cook
Honey Almond Bundt Cake by Terri at Love and Confections
Honey Baba au Rhum by Kelly at Passion Kneaded
Honey Banana Bundt by Jane at Jane’s Adventures in Dinner
Honey Bundt Cake with Lemon Honey Glaze by Bea and Mara at I Love Bundt Cakes
Honey Bunny Bundt Cake by Teri at The Freshman Cook
Honey Caramel Apple Bundt Cake by Laura at Baking in Pyjamas
Honey Glazed Blackberry Cornmeal Bundt Cake by Tux at Brooklyn Homemaker
Honey Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake by Lauren at From Gate to Plate
Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Pound Cake by Renee at Magnolia Days
Honey Whiskey Mini Bundt Cakes with Honey Whiskey Glaze by Stacy at Food Lust People Love
Orange Hazelnut Bundt Cake by Zainab at Blahnik Baker
Whole Wheat Honey Spiced Apple Breakfast Bundtlettes by Laura at The Spiced Life

Interested in learning more about us?? #BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. You can see all our of lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the BundtBaker home page here.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. If you are just a lover of Bundt baking, you can find all of our recipe links by clicking our badge above or on our group Pinterest board.

peach, tomato, & thyme galette with vanilla yogurt

So, suddenly it’s the middle of August. How did that happen?

I feel like the last time I looked at a calendar it was early June and I had the whole summer in front of me, just waiting to unfold. But time marches on, days come and go, and suddenly we’re half way through the last full month of summer. I’m not ready to let go yet, so I’m going to do everything in my power to make the most of what’s left this sultry season.

Next week I’m heading upstate for a much needed vacation. I’m going to stay with family, get some R&R, and help my mom work on her new house. I’m also going to steal away for a few days to go camping with my sister and niece and nephews. I cannot wait. Fresh air, fresh water, clear skies, starry nights, & bug bites. Waking up in a hot tent and hearing the sound of birds chirping. Food cooked over an open fire. It really doesn’t get any better. Can you tell that I’m excited?

For now though, I’m content to eat the best of what summer has to offer. Camping trip or no camping trip, I need to make sure I get my fix of fresh produce before it’s too late. Some of the best, freshest, juiciest, most quintessentially summery things to eat are peaches and tomatoes. Especially in the late summer, these are the foods that I crave more than anything.

While I’m sure that a lot of people also love peaches and tomatoes this time of year, I would venture to guess that they think those two things should be eaten separately. Peaches are to be eaten as a sweet snack or as dessert, and tomatoes are for salads and savory dishes. Well, guess what… Those people would be dead wrong. It is possible to put a peach in a salad. It is. Try it. I dare you.

Similarly, tomatoes can be used in sweet dishes. Think about it. Tomatoes are, technically, a fruit. They’re sweet. While they are biting and acidic, and lend themselves perfectly to savory dishes and sauces, they can be so much more than marinara. At their peak in the late summer, tomatoes are sweet and bright and fruity, with a lemony acidity that works really well for desserts.

So, guess what happened…

I got the sweetest brightest little yellow cherry tomatoes the farmers market had to offer, and picked up a couple pounds of juicy ripe peaches while I was there. Then I did something totally crazy. Totally off the wall. Totally unbelievable.

I went ahead and tossed the tomatoes and the peaches together, added some sugar and lemon juice, and baked them into one big rustic galette.

I’m a madman. I know.

This dessert is crazy summery. The baked fruit is juicy and soft and thick, and the galette crust is tender and crisp, and super flaky. The filling is bursting with bright, sunny, crisp, sweet & acidic fruitiness. There’s enough sweetness to prevent the tomatoes from reading as savory, but it’s not overly sweet or cloying at all. While the tomatoes and thyme add a certain earthiness, the acidity from the lemon ties everything together and I can’t even begin to describe how well they marry with the peaches. I’m surprised that this isn’t something more people do already. Tomatoes and peaches just work so well together. I’m sure I’m not the first person to pair these flavors together, so it seems strange that it hasn’t caught on.

I could go on, but there’s a plate of this in front of me and it’s rude to type with your mouth full. Unless you hate summer, you have to make this.

Peach, Tomato, & Thyme Galette with Vanilla Yogurt

Servings: 12-ish
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Crust:
2 1/2 cups AP flour, plus more for rolling
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1/3 cup ice cold water

Whisk together flour and salt in a medium bowl, and add butter. Cut butter into flour with a pastry blender until the butter is in pea or pebble sized pieces. This can also be done by pulsing in a food processor.

In a small bowl, whisk together the yogurt, lemon juice, and water, and pour this over the butter-flour mixture. Stir with a spoon or a rubber spatula until a dough forms, kneading it once or twice on the counter if needed to bring it together. Pat the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic, and chill it in the refrigerator for 1 hour or up to 2 days.

Filling:
2 lbs peaches, skinned and sliced about 1/2 inch thick
3/4 lb sweet cherry tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, stripped from stems
3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons demerara (or any coarse raw) sugar

Preheat oven to 375. Combine peaches, tomatoes, thyme, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, & salt in a large bowl. Gently stir until well combined.

On a floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 16–inch round. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Spread the filling over the dough, leaving a 2-inch border. Fold the border over the filling, pleating it as necessary, leaving the center open. Brush the outside of the crust with the egg wash, and sprinkle coarse sugar over the whole thing, crust and center.

Bake until golden brown and bubbling in center, about an hour and 10 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet 10 minutes, then slide galette on parchment onto a wire rack. Let cool completely (or almost completely) before serving. Top with vanilla yogurt.

Vanilla Yogurt:
1 cup greek yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon honey

Whisk ingredients together in a small bowl until well combined. Spoon a hearty dollop over each slice of galette.

the C. D. Rocktail

A customer at work recently asked me what my favorite gin was.

I was struck at first by the thought that this was a sort of strange question. People who like gin tend to really like gin, and usually already know what brands they like, and people who don’t like gin usually avoid it like the plague and couldn’t give half a crap what someone else’s favorite brand might be.

Once I answered her though, and explained why I liked that brand, I was struck by another thought. I haven’t had gin in a good long time.

Before I started drinking whiskey, gin was usually my liquor of choice. Even after I became a whiskey boy I still tended to drink gin in warmer summer months. Gin gimlets used to be my favorite easy summer cocktail, but that all changed when I developed a taste for tequila and discovered the Paloma.

This is making me sound like a terrible lush. I’m not. Moderation. It’s all about moderation… Also, variety is the spice of life, so there.

The answer to the favorite gin question, for those of you who might be wondering, is Hendrick’s. While it’s not the only gin I like, if I have to choose a favorite this would be it. Hendrick’s is a small batch gin made from a variety of herbs and botanicals, and along with the traditional juniper that gives gin its distinctive piney flavor, this gin is infused with rose petals and cucumber. The resulting gin is smooth and mild with a subtle juniper flavor, pleasant aromatics notes, and hints of cool cucumber and floral rose.

The use of high quality ingredients also prevents you from feeling like you’ve pickled your insides if you drink one (or two) too many cocktails.

With Hendrick’s on my mind I started thinking about the best gin cocktail I’ve ever had.

Right after college I moved to Ithaca, New York, and took a job waiting tables at a hip & modern restaurant called Olivia. Olivia’s sister restaurant, Stella’s, was a trendy late-night cocktail lounge in Ithaca’s “college town” neighborhood. My coworkers and I would frequently head to Stella’s for a drink after Olivia had closed for the night. Sometimes there’s nothing like a good drink with other waiters to help you wind down after a busy night.

One of my favorite and most frequently consumed cocktails was called the C.D. Rocktail, which was named after the bartender who created it. (Her initials are C.D.) I was no stranger to gin even then, but I was not familiar with Hendrick’s and had never tasted such a wonderfully refreshing gin cocktail before. Back then the craft cocktail trend was still in it’s formative years, and most of upstate New York hadn’t yet caught on. The mixologists at Stella’s knew what was up though and came up with more than a handful of recipes for some seriously tasty tipple.

The C.D. Rocktail was made by muddling cucumber & basil with lime juice and simple syrup, and topping it all off with gin and soda water. This potent potable is unbelievably fresh, summery, & refreshing; with a subtle sweetness and just a hint of effervescence. The cucumber helps to mellow out the gin’s bite, the basil imparts a pleasant herbal freshness, and lime sweetens and brightens everything up and ties the whole thing together.

I mean, this was almost ten years ago and I’m still thinking about this cocktail. It’s a Stellar (har har har) drink, and I’m sure you’re going to love it just as much as I do. Even if you’re not a huge gin lover, you should give this a try. The juniper piney flavor of gin is extremely subtle in this drink and only adds to it’s bright green summeriness.

When that customer asked about the gin and jolted my memory, I knew I had to try to recreate this cocktail. It’s been a looooong time since I’ve had one and I’d almost forgotten how much I loved them. The problem though, was that I couldn’t remember exactly what went into it. I knew it was Hendrick’s and I knew there were cucumbers and lime, but my memory failed me and I thought it was mint instead of basil, and forgot about the soda water. I also wasn’t sure how it all came together as, at the time, I was paying more attention to how they went down than how they were made. Although Olivia has since gone out of business, Stella’s is still open, but unfortunately, the C.D. Rocktail is no longer on the menu.

I’m still good friends with a lot of my former coworkers though, so I started asking around. No one had the recipe, but one of them is still in touch with the bartender who dreamed up this dreamy drink. So, she asked and a few days later the recipe was in my inbox. Or, at least, a list of ingredients was. Quantities and directions weren’t provided, so it took me a few tries to get it right, but if memory serves me this is pretty damn close to the way the original recipe tasted.

So, you should totally make this. I went to sooo much trouble to find and recreate the recipe for you. I had to drink multiple cocktails to get it right. This is the cross I bear in the name of blogging, so the least you can do it try it for yourself. And besides, the C.D. Rocktail is an unbelievably summery and refreshing drink and you’d be crazy not to make it.

the C.D. Rocktail

Servings: makes one 8oz cocktail
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3 slices cucumber, halved (about 1/4″ thick)
1/2 oz lime juice
4 – 5 fresh basil leaves
1/2 oz simple syrup *see note
2 oz good quality gin, preferably Hendrick’s
2 oz soda water

Muddle cucumber & basil in a cocktail shaker with lime juice & simple syrup. Take your time and get them real good and mashed up. Top with gin, add ice, and shake well. Strain into an 8- 10 oz glass filled with ice, and top with 2oz soda water.
Garnish with a slice of cucumber, if desired.

*note- simple syrup is crazy easy to make. Heat an equal amount of sugar and water, until sugar is completely dissolved. Cool. You’re done.