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December 2012

Like so many other tidbits of integral knowledge, I first heard of Harvey Wallbanger from an episode of ‘The Golden Girls.’ (There is much I have learned solely through Golden Girl episodes). In this one, Sophia’s friend was waiting for her at a bar and was drinking a Harvey Wallbanger. “Seeing a lot of Mr. Wallbanger lately, aren’t you?” Years later, for our most recent holiday party in fact, my friend Scott made a Harvey Wallbanger cake, and suddenly I was sold. Making use of that bastion of 70’s liqueur – Galliano – some vodka, and fresh orange juice, this is one sweet and moist cake. I liked Scott’s version enough to try it on my own, and with the exception of the Galliano and some pudding mix, we already had all the ingredients on hand. If it’s easy enough for me to handle, you can handle it too. The recipe follows:

Harvey Wallbanger Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

Cake:

1 box (about 18.75 ounces) yellow cake mix

1 cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs

1/4 cup Galliano liqueur

1/4 cup vodka

1 package (3-ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix

3/4 cup fresh orange juice

Glaze:

1 cup sifted powdered sugar

1 Tablespoon fresh orange juice

1 Tablespoon Galliano

1 teaspoon vodka

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a Bundt pan or spray with floured vegetable spray.

Place cake mix, oil, eggs, liqueur, vodka, pudding mix, and orange juice into a large mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Pour evenly into prepared Bundt pan and tap gently on the counter to release any air bubbles. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. (Do not overbake or it will become dry.) Let rest for 5 minutes. Gently loosen edges around the rims with a thin rubber spatula. Invert and unmold from Bundt pan onto a cake platter, then glaze while warm.

For the glaze, mix powdered sugar, orange juice, liqueur, and vodka until smooth. (If it is too thick, add more orange juice a few drops at a time to get a drizzling consistency. If it is too thin, add more powdered sugar a teaspoon at a time.) Drizzle over the warm cake and let cool to room temperature for glaze to set.

These Baby Yukon Gold potatoes look better than any other potato I’ve ever baked, thanks to a nifty trick culled from the Barefoot Contessa again. Ina Garten found this method of preparing the tubers while in London, and it adds a delicate flair to an otherwise simple and hearty side dish. It’s quite simple – you skim off the bottom of a potato so it stands solidly without rocking. Then you cut almost to the bottom in 1/8 inch slices, so that the potato stays intact, but sliced. Coat in olive oil and a mixture of rosemary, salt and pepper, working both oil and spices in between each slice. Bake at 425 for about half an hour. Pretty, easy, and perfect for a holiday dinner.

Growing up, the sliced radish was the one part of a salad that I couldn’t stomach. It was too spicy, too harsh, too biting – and like Fritos and pizza and lobster, I didn’t go back to it for many years. But while I returned to those favorites and grew to love them, my return to radishes has only just taken place, spurred on by an episode of the Barefoot Contessa Goes to London, wherein the root vegetable formed a colorful addition to a ploughman’s lunch. Ms. Garten has featured the radish before, honoring it as a popular French snack, served with sea salt and a baguette of French bread smeared with salted butter.

Without radishes from the garden (we are, as FUSSYlittleBLOG pointed out, far from radish season – he directed me to Buenos Aires), I looked in Fresh Market, which had a few in their organic section. I found some cheap sea salt there as well, but forgot that Marshall’s is the real secret place to get decent spices at much more reasonable prices. With that in mind, I stopped by their Homegoods store and found some Himalayan Pink Sea Salt in its own grinder. Pink just makes everything better.

As for taste, the radish is just as I remembered it, though the addition of a little pink sea salt added another layer of welcome interest. Served with a buttered baguette, it made for a simple preamble to dinner, and I can see how it would make a good after-work snack. Nothing that I’ll do with any regularity, at least not until I put some radishes in my own garden, but a nice enough break to winter monotony.

(My favorite part was still the Himalayan pink salt. I mean, it was pink.)