Molly Yeh's Chocolate Tahini Cake with Tahini Frosting

Time can feel like a race, it drags you back, you try to keep up, but there's no way to stop. My summer flew by and then there was autumn, as quick as a storm that sweeps all the leaves off the trees, within one night they are all gone.

My last post was on August 27th. Since I started these pages, my Eat In My Kitchen blog, I have never 'abandoned' it for such a long time. It used to feel weird if I didn't come back here every day, like in the first year, or at least every few days like I did in the past 3 years. It was my routine that I loved and hated. Sometimes I did feel pressured, just by myself, and the best thing to escape pressure, at least for me, is another project that sucks me in with such intensity that all my brain cells are too busy to think about anything else. I'm involved in a new project at the moment that I'll only be able to share with you at the beginning of 2018, and this project took me around the world within just a few weeks. I met the most amazing people, I felt hungry and inspired every day, I pushed my borders, which I need to keep my creativity flowing and which I could only do because I had an amazing team around me. So far we went to California, Italy, France, and Japan, and there will be more countries to come. It's quite a journey.

These trips in the past 2 months were one of the reasons why I stayed away from my kitchen, why I didn't go to the farmers market as often, why I didn't experiment, fail and succeed at my cooker, but I discovered new worlds and culinary universes that I can't wait to include in my own cooking - once I'm fully back home and ready to cook.

The second reason I stopped writing, is one that hit me deeper, right into my head, my heart, and my bones. On October 16th, Daphne Caruana Galizia was brutally killed in Malta. She was the most wonderful woman, the bravest I know, she was a mother of three young men, and she was a friend. Daphne fought for freedom and justice, for all of us, she was a well known investigative journalist and blogger. It was late in the evening and I was in Tokyo when I found out, I could only scream and run outside into the dark. Since then, I've been angry, too angry, which never helps anybody. I tried to find words for what happened, but I didn't manage. A few days after I found out, I started writing a post to share here, but it was just anger screamed out into the world. You can say that this is a food blog, and you're right, but this is a food blog written out of my perspective, so whatever influences me as a person will find its way into my kitchen, onto my table, and onto this blog. I can't really say more, my words aren't really back yet, I still feel numbed, but I wanted to put what happened in words, that Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed for saying the honest, painful truth, for being critical, for fighting for our freedom. I will never forget her and my thoughts are with her and her family every day. One of her sons, Matthew Caruana Galizia, continues her work, he just won the Pulitzer prize as a part of a group of investigative journalists who disclosed the Panama Papers first and then the Paradise Papers just recently. We have to support the ones who are brave enough to open their mouth and talk, maybe louder than we'd dare to do, and we have to show that they are not alone and that we are with them.

My mother taught me that life can be beautiful and brutal and that we have to deal with both sides. Sometimes they lay so close to each other that we don't even know how to deal with it. We enjoy the heights to the fullest and then, in the next second, we seem to drown. The place where I often go to when I feel battered by life, is my kitchen, I cook and I bake. And although I've neglected this space so much recently, I have long lists of kitchen projects that I want to dive into during Berlin's long lasting winter.

To cook - and bake - from my friend Molly's Molly On The Range cookbook was on the top of my list, her book came out at the same time as mine, a year ago. Molly and I just met again while I was in California, her compelling, charming way to talk about food and life in general never ceases to amaze me. Molly also knows how to make cakes look so pretty that you wouldn't dare to cut them, like her famous Funfetti Cake or her Gingerbread Farm, a replica of the actual farm where she lives with her husband (you can read her interview for our Meet In Your Kitchen feature in 2015 here). Molly is the kind of person who somehow manages to combine the talents of a perfectionist with the casual laid back attitude of a person who doesn't care about perfectionism at all. Molly's German book was only recently published and when I got the book and spotted the recipe for today's chocolate tahini cake, I was hooked as soon as I read the title.

This was the first cake that I baked in months, and I didn't even notice how much I missed baking until I turned on the oven and thumbed through the pages of Molly's beautiful book. Sometimes, the best thing I can do is to take some time for myself in my kitchen, with eggs, butter, and sugar (and some tahini), and listen to Molly and bake this cake that tastes so unbelievably perfect. It's chocolate, it's tahini, it's sweet, and it's all I needed at the moment to feel ready to face the world again, with all its beauty and its brutality. Thank you, Molly!

Chocolate Tahini Cake with Tahini Frosting

from Molly Yeh's 'Molly On The Range - Recipes and Stories from an Unlikely Life on a Farm'

I only made half of this recipe and decorated the cake with dates and sesame seeds.

Makes one 2-layer 8-inch (20cm) cake or 24 cupcakes

For the cake

• 1 3/4 cups / 350g sugar

• 1 3/4 cups / 220g flour

• 1 cup / 100g unsweetened cocoa powder

• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

• 2 eggs

• 1 cup / 240ml whole milk

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

• 1/4 cup / 4 tablespoons flavorless oil

• 1/2 cup / 120g tahini

• 3/4 cup / 180ml boiling water

For the frosting

• 1 cup / 240g  unsalted butter, softened

• 1/2 cup / 120g tahini

• 2 cups / 200g confectioners’ sugar

• 1/8 teaspoon salt1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

To make the cake, preheat oven to 350ºF (175°C). Grease and line the bottoms of two 8-inch (20cm) cake pans or line 24 cupcake tins and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. In a separate, medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla, oil, and tahini. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Whisk in the boiling water.

Pour the batter into the cake or cupcake pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Begin checking for doneness at 28 minutes for cakes and 18 minutes for cupcakes. Let cool in the pans on a rack for 10 minutes and then remove to the rack and cool completely.

To make the frosting, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the butter and tahini until creamy. Gradually add the powdered sugar and mix to combine. Mix in the salt, cinnamon, and vanilla.

To assemble, you can either go the traditional route, or crumble up the cake layers with your hands, layer about a 1/3 of them in the bottom of a larger bowl, top it with 1/2 the frosting, another 1/3 of the cake, the remainder of the frosting, and then the remainder of the cake.

Green Asparagus with Beet and Chickpea Hummus

Pink and spring green! Today's dish celebrates this vibrant colour combination and I can't really say that I expected the result to taste that good. My green asparagus stalks found a perfect companion in a screaming pink hummus. I adjusted its colour and taste by adding a generous amount of boiled beetroots. At first I was worried that the roots' earthy tones would dominate, so I started with one root for a small can of chickpeas. But there was no need to worry. The beetroot easily found its place in the nutty dip, in fact, it's a fine sweetness that comes through the most.

Before the roots kicked in, I used my basic hummus recipe to start with. It perfectly balances out the flavours of chickpeas, rich tahini, sour lemon, and the punch of fresh garlic and ground cumin. It was a recently published cookbook that inspired my to turn my hummus pink. Joel MacCharles and Dana Harrison's book called Batch, a comprehensive collection of pantry recipes, caught my attention and made me wish I had a whole room and not just a shelf to store my jars of preserved goods. Their book covers various methods for canning, dehydrating, fermenting, cellaring, salting, smoking, and infusing. As I thumbed through the pages, I noticed that there are still a lot of preserving techniques I have to learn more about. I cook my own jams and chutneys, preserve my gherkins, lemons and other fruits and vegetables, I learned to make gravad lax from my mother (a recipe that comes to use at least once a year), but I've never made my own sauerkraut or smoked mussels.

Batch is a book that needs time and attention, a book that gives you lots of basic recipes to follow and not to experiment with. It's about learning the right techniques to be able to fill the shelves in your pantry with pride and satisfaction. However, the duo also included quite a few creations that allow you to play with your preserving results and be creative. In the beet chapter, Joel and Dana write about a pink beet hummus, which is different to mine: they don't add chickpeas, it's the pure red root that shines. Below you can find both recipes, my chickpea and beet hummus and Joel and Dana's pure beet hummus. Try both and enjoy. I just love my chickpeas. But don't forget to add green asparagus cooked al dente, it's too good. And use the leftover dip to spread on dark spelt bread.

Green Asparagus with Beet and Chickpea Hummus

Serves 3-4

For the beet and chickpea hummus

• medium to large beetroots, unpeeled, 2

• bay leaves 2

• olive oil 2 teaspoons

• drained and rinsed canned chickpeas, 240g / 1 1/3 cups

• tahini 150g / 5 ounces

• water 120ml / 1/2 cup

• freshly squeezed lemon juice 6 tablespoons

• garlic, crushed, 2 large cloves

• ground cumin 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon

• fine sea salt about 1 1/4 teaspoons

For the asparagus

• green asparagus, rimmed, 1kg / 2 1/4 pounds

• olive oil

• flaky sea salt

• white sesame seeds

Bring a medium pot of salted water to the boil. Add the beetroots (with their skin) and bay leaves, cover with a lid, and cook the roots over medium heat (simmering) for about 45-55 minutes or until tender. Rinse with cold water and let cool for a few minutes. Peel the roots and weigh 200g / 7 ounces, use any remaining beetroot for another recipe. Using a food processor or blender, purée the beetroots and 2 teaspoons of olive oil until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

For the hummus, using the same food processor or blender, purée the chickpeas, tahini, water, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, and salt until smooth. Add half the puréed beetroot to the hummus and purée until well combined. Add more puréed beet until the hummus has the desired taste. I added the whole 200g / 7 ounces of beet. Add more lemon juice, salt, and cumin to taste.

Cook the asparagus in plenty of salted water for about 3 minutes or until al dente, rinse briefly with cold water, drain, and transfer to a large plate or divide between the plates. Serve warm or cold, drizzle the asparagus with a little olive oil, and sprinkle with sesame and salt. Dollop a few teaspoons of the hummus over the green stalks and enjoy!

Alternative beet hummus recipe:

Joel MacCharles and Dana Harrison's Beet Hummus 

from Batch, published by appetite by Random House

Serves 2-3

• garlic, peeled, 3 cloves

• tahini 120ml / 1/2 cup

• ground cumin 2 teaspoons

• sesame oil 2 teaspoons

• fresh lemon juice 2 tablespoons (add more if you wish)

• canned beetroots 1l / 1 quart-jar (you can find a recipe for pressure canned beets in the book, but you can also use my recipe above to boil the beets)

• beet stock (preserving / boiling liquid) 60ml / 1/4 cup

• olive oil (optional)

Place the garlic in a blender and chop until fine.

Add the tahini, cumin, sesame oil, and lemon juice to the blender. Scrape the sides to make sure the garlic is incorporated and blend for 10 seconds.

Add the beets and blend until smooth. Add the beet stock, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the hummus achieves the texture you like (you may not use the whole 60ml / 1/4 cup or you may have to add more). Chill in the fridge for a few minutes before eating (optional). Serve in a bowl and a drizzle of olive oil.

Spicy Harissa Lentils with Lemon Tahini and Sweet Onions

A friend of ours gave us a large bottle of tahini which he brought back to Berlin from his latest trip to Israel. Guy knows how much we love this oily sesame paste and it wasn't the first time that he brought some for us from one of his trips to the Middle East. This time, he announced solemnly that this Blue Dove Tahina is the best tahini ever. Unfortunately, I can't read anything that's written on it, apart from Quality Since 1921, the rest is in Arabic and Hebrew, but Guy told me that it's not actually from Israel but from Palestine. If only people could forget about borders as easily as food does when it travels.

So, our special Tahina deserved some special recipes. Hummus came first, enjoyed only with some soft chunks of a white loaf of bread dipped into the velvety creaminess. We sprinkled a few pieces of the bread with the pure tahini paste and agreed that it's so good that it doesn't really need any addition, pure on bread - that's perfection! However I couldn't stop myself from coming up with another delicious way of making use of it: I whisked together a thick, oily sauce made of tahini, garlic roasted in olive oil and lemon juice - it's divine. Then, I cooked red lentils in my  homemade vegetable broth and mixed it with spicy harissa, I drizzled the tahini sauce all over it and finished it off with onions, cooked until they were juicy, golden brown and almost as sweet as candy.

This recipe has been featured by Food52!

Spicy Harissa Lentils with Tahini and Sweet Onions

Serves 2

For the lentils

• red lentils 200g / 7 ounces

• vegetable broth (unsalted) 1/2l / 2 cups plus 1 tablespoon

• harissa

• fine sea salt

• ground pepper

• olive oil 1 tablespoon

For the topping

• olive oil

• onions, cut in half and thinly sliced, 2

• a pinch of sugar

• black peppercorns, crushed in a mortar

• fresh parsley leaves 12

For the tahini sauce

• olive oil 3 tablespoons

• garlic, cut into tiny cubes, 2 large cloves

• tahini 1 1/2 tablespoons

• freshly squeezed lemon juice 1-2 teaspoons

• a pinch of fine sea salt

In a large heavy pan, bring the lentils and broth to a boil and simmer on medium heat for about 8 minutes or until the lentils are al dente. Stir in 1 teaspoon of harissa and 1 tablespoon of olive oil, season with salt and pepper.

While the lentils are cooking, heat a splash of olive oil in a heavy pan and cook the onions on medium heat for a few minutes until golden brown and soft, stir in a pinch of sugar.

For the tahini sauce, heat the olive oil and garlic in a small saucepan and cook on medium heat for about 1 minute or until the garlic is golden but not dark. Take the saucepan off the heat and pour the garlic oil into a bowl. Whisk in the tahini, 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and salt, season to taste.

Divide the lentils between plates, sprinkle with the tahini sauce, a little more harissa (optional), crushed pepper and parsley. Enjoy!