Financiers

Financiers are said to resemble a bar of gold, and they are so good, they're certainly worth their weight in the precious metal…


These little French cakelettes are crisp around the edges and moist and tender within. They are as rich as their name implies, full of almonds and brown butter. Though they need no embellishment, financiers take well to whatever fruit is in season, be it berry, stone fruit, apple, pear, or citrus. Sometimes they masquerade as hazelnut or pistachio flavored. And on occasion, chocolate flavored. Both the unbaked batter and the finished cakes have good keeping qualities. Best of all, financiers are effortless and take mere minutes to whip up. My favorite cake of the moment.

Yesterday, I harvested all of the Italian prune plums from the little tree in our garden and promptly baked a batch.


Plum Financiers
Printable Recipe

5 ounces (1 ¼ sticks) unsalted butter, diced, plus more for greasing the tins
5 ½ ounces sugar
2 ½ ounces all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the tins
2 ½ ounces almond meal
5 ounces egg whites, at room temperature
3 Italian prune plums, halved, pitted, and thinly sliced

Heat a small, heavy saucepan over medium heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the butter and cook, stirring constantly, for 5 to 6 minutes, or until browned. Transfer the butter to a bowl and let cool.

Whisk together the sugar, flour, and almond meal in a large bowl. Whisk in the egg whites until thoroughly combined and then whisk in the butter until thoroughly combined. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 1 to 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Butter and flour 12 financier tins and divide the batter among them. Fan out the plum slices atop the batter in each financier tin. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until golden brown and the edges of the financiers start to shrink away from the tins. Let the financiers cool in the tins for about 10 minutes. Invert onto cooling racks and finish cooling completely.

Makes 1 dozen financiers. If you do not have traditional rectangular financier tins, use a muffin pan and adjust the baking time accordingly. The brown butter should be cooled but still melted when you mix the financier batter.

Flooded with Figs

The little fig tree in our garden is loaded with maturing fruit. Any day now we're gonna have more ripe figs than we know what to do with. There are way too many for just two people to eat, so I fixed some to share with you, dear reader.


They're stuffed with Brie, wrapped with prosciutto, grilled, and drizzled with balsamic vinegar and honey. Enjoy!

Though figs certainly mean summertime, it's already fall in my head. That's because registration for fall Clark College classes just opened. I hope you can join me in the kitchen for Make Fresh Pasta at Home!, Love in a Bowl: Delectable Soups, Pâte à Choux: Easy & Heavenly, and Quick Breads: Muffins & Scones. And would you believe I've already submitted class proposals for the winter quarter?! Such is the life of cooking instructors and recipe developers—we're always thinking a couple of seasons ahead.

Grilled Figs with Brie & Prosciutto
Printable Recipe

8 figs
1 ounce Brie, cut into 8 equal pieces
4 thin slices prosciutto, cut in half lengthwise
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon honey, preferably orange blossom honey
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, preferably Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena

Heat the grill to high. Cut a deep slit into the stem end of each fig, almost but not quite cutting them in half lengthwise. Stuff each one with a piece of the Brie. Wrap a piece of the prosciutto around each fig. Thread the figs onto skewers and drizzle with the olive oil. Add the skewers to the grill and cook without disturbing for 2 to 3 minutes, or until they release from the grate and the prosciutto is crusty and brown. Using tongs, turn the skewers and continue to cook over high heat another 1 to 2 minutes, or until the Brie is melted. Drizzle the figs with the honey and balsamic vinegar and serve immediately.

Makes 8 hors d'oeuvres, serving 4. Choose figs that are ripe but not too soft for this recipe. Vary the dish by using blue cheese or goat cheese (any variety from fresh chèvre to aged Le Chevrot to the Brie-like Florette) in place of the Brie.

A Big Salad for Dinner

It's that time of year when what you want for dinner is a big salad. The farmers market is bursting with lovely yellow and green beans, tender lettuces, sweet tomatoes, and earthy potatoes. Put that all together and a big salad is exactly what you get.


Tuna Salad Niçoise*
Printable Recipe

12 ounces fingerling potatoes
Kosher salt
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 shallot, minced
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon minced fresh thyme
½ teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon minced Italian parsley
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 7.8-ounce jar canned oil-packed tuna
Freshly ground black pepper
2 hard-cooked eggs
4 ounces haricot vert, trimmed and blanched
6 ounces cherry tomatoes, quartered
4 ounces mesclun greens
¼ cup Niçoise or Kalamata olives

Place the potatoes in a medium pot and add enough water to cover by several inches. Add several large pinches of salt. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the potatoes to a plate. Let rest for about 15 minutes, or until just cool enough to handle.

Whisk together the red wine vinegar, shallot, mustard, thyme, rosemary, and parsley in a medium bowl. Continue whisking while adding the oil in a thin stream. Drain the tuna and whisk the oil from the tuna into the vinaigrette. Season the vinaigrette to taste with salt and pepper. Cut the potatoes into quarters when they are cool enough to handle and toss with enough vinaigrette to coat in a medium bowl.

Cut the eggs into sixths and flake the tuna. In separate bowls, toss the haricot vert, tomatoes, and greens with enough vinaigrette to coat.

Mound the greens on a platter. Arrange the potatoes, haricot vert, tomatoes, eggs, olives, and tuna decoratively atop the greens. Drizzle with the remaining vinaigrette and serve immediately.

Serves 2 as a main course. This composed salad hails from sunny Nice in the South of France. The flavor depends largely on the quality of the tuna, so splurge on the best you can afford. Personally, I like Ortiz Bonito del Norte. Any yellow-fleshed potatoes may be used. Haricot vert, which are French green beans, are very slender and more tender than other varieties. They are often available at gourmet grocers and farmers markets. If you cannot find them, use the smallest green beans you can find. You can also use a combination of green and yellow wax beans.

*For a related Seared Tuna Salad Niçoise recipe and everything you ever wanted to know about searing, plus dozens of fabulous searing recipes, look for my book Seared to Perfection in stores now.

Summer Baking

While the rest of the country has been suffering through what seems to be the hottest summer ever, temperatures here in the Pacific Northwest have been unseasonably cold. I don't mean to rub this in for those of you who live in the inferno area, but we haven't had a single 90-degree day yet. Would you believe today I actually donned a fleece jacket? All this is to say that I don't mind turning the oven on when I feel like baking with summer berries.


Blueberry Cobbler with Lemon-Crème Fraîche Biscuit Topping
Printable Recipe

Unsalted butter, for greasing the baking dishes
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Grated zest of 1 lemon
6 ounces crème fraîche
¼ cup heavy cream
1 ¼ pounds blueberries
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon Turbinado sugar

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Butter 4 individual baking dishes. Whisk together the flour, ¼ cup of the sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest in a large bowl. Blend together the crème fraîche and cream in a small bowl, add to the flour mixture, and stir until just combined.

Combine the blueberries, remaining 2 tablespoons of the sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice in a large bowl and toss to coat. Divide the blueberry mixture among the baking dishes. Divide the dough among the baking dishes, dropping it by the tablespoonful onto the blueberries. Sprinkle the cobblers with the Turbinado sugar. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown and bubbling around the edges. Let cool slightly and serve.

Makes 4 individual cobblers. Blueberry and lemon is a flavor combination made in heaven. Huckleberries may be substituted for the blueberries. Perfect with vanilla or lemon ice cream.