Starfruit Upside Down Cake with Cardamom Rum Glaze

Disclosure: At press time, I am a contracted employee of Frieda's Specialty Produce. Some products are given to me as samples, some are leftover from a photo shoot, and some I purchase from an employee sale for personal use.  My opinion on this blog whether it's about Frieda's products or anything else are all my own and does not reflect that of my employer's. 

I've known Starfruit my entire life, having grown up in Thailand. I've seen them around all the time. But frankly, I don't recall having eaten any.  At least not in the past 20 years.  I got to taste it for the first time in recent memory a couple of weeks ago as we tried in vain to make a Vine for Star Wars Day.

We're now producing the new Specialty Produce 101 YouTube video for Starfruit and I was tasked to see if we can make something different with them outside of blending them into a smoothie or adding them into a fruit salad.

To be honest, there are not a lot of recipes out there for Starfruit that look appetizing or are simple. But then I read that Starfruit can be used instead of pineapples in some recipes.  And it seems I've stumbled on a winner on Epicurious.

The recipe calls for ground cardamom and comes with a warning that many people feel that 3 teaspoons of ground cardamom are too overpowering.  I already have cardamom PODS--green AND black!--in my pantry from my faux-Indian cooking, but I thought I probably should pick up a thing of ground cardamom anyway.  Then I saw the whopping $13 price tag. Never mind!

There has got to be a way around this!  Suddenly, I remembered my cardamom-infused bourbon I made a while ago for a cocktail.  So I did just that with the rum needed for the recipe.

The result is just a hint of cardamom that lets a little bit of pineapple shine through, a warmth that compliments the refreshing taste of the cooked Starfruit, and something just a tad savory to cut through the chewy sweet caramel.

Vacation on plate, I tell you.

Starfruit Upside Down Cake with Cardamom Rum Glaze
Adapted from Epicurious Pineapple Upside Down Cake

You'll need a well-seasoned 10-inch cast-iron skillet for this.

Cardamom-infused Rum

Crush 3 cardamom pods in a small bowl. Add 3 tablespoons of rum. Let stand for at least 30 minutes. Discard the pods and seeds.

Topping

1 large Starfruit or 2 small ones
3/4 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

Thoroughly wash Starfruit and slice it crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Melt butter in a cast-iron skillet. Add brown sugar and simmer over moderate heat until sugar is melted and the mixture is sticky, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Arrange Starfruit on top of sugar mixture.  Set aside.

Cake

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon cardamom-infused rum (recipe above)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice*
2 tablespoon cardamom-infused rum for sprinkling

*I used the juice from in a can of pineapple rings in pineapple JUICE--NOT the syrup!  Brandon loves pineapples so I just poured out my 1/2 cup of juice, and dump the rest of the content into a container for him to eat later. :)

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Sift together flour, making powder, and salt. Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, then gradually add sugar, and eggs, 1 at a time. Beat in vanilla and 1 tablespoon of cardamom-infused rum. Add half of flour mixture and beat just until blended. Beat in pineapple juice, then add remaining flour mixture, beating just until blended. (Batter may appear slightly curdled.)

Spoon batter over pineapple topping and spread evenly. Bake until golden and a tester comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let cake stand in skillet 5 minutes. Put a plate over skillet and invert cake onto plate. Replace any fruit stuck to bottom of skillet. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of cardamom-infused rum over cake and cool on plate on a rack.

Serve cake just warm or at room temperature.

I think next week I might repeat this recipe but using Zululand Queen Baby Pineapples instead!

Strawberry Sake

Really, summer in a glass.

I read this article in the LA Times many years ago, and since then had made this lovely Strawberry-infused Sake so many times, it's become a part of my repertoire.



Put it simply, halve 2 pints (baskets) of fresh strawberries (quarter if they're huge). Put it in a sun tea jar. Pour a bottle of cheap regular (junmai) sake over it. Let it sit in a cool dark place--not the fridge!--for 3 days.



And voila! On the 4th day, you put the whole jar in the fridge or you can strain out the fruit. Using a sun tea jar has the advantage of the spout--no straining needed to pour!

You might find that the smell and taste of it on the 3rd day may be a little bit on the riper side of the strawberries. Fear not, the taste DOES mellow out once it is chilled.

Oh and it keeps for about a week. After that, it will start to taste a little funny...



Well, I forgot to take a picture of the jar before I extract the sake to take to a friend's barbecue. Essentially, the color and juices have come out of the berries and into the sake. The fruit themselves looked like a white sock that has been in a red load of laundry.

You know how cheap sake has that bite to it? Well, the berries took in all of that too. A friend of ours decided once to just have the sake soaked berries for dessert. She liked the bitter, you see. Boy, did she get wasted faster than any of us actually drinking the sake!

Bottling tip: I have found that Voss premium spring water glass bottle to work beautifully for my transport. As I have found out, you can buy the plastic version of these at retail store in the big liter bottle and the little one. Some of the bars to sell the small bottle ones too. So...if you happen to buy those fancy schmancy water, keep the bottle.

I used to buy small bottles and corks from the beer brewing supplier store, slap on my own label and gave them to friends. But if I can find small Voss bottles out there, I don't have to trek to the special store for bottles now. However, I think I'll be paying more for the fancy water. Heh.

Irish Feast...sort of

For the past 5 years, I have been cooking up this recipe of 1996 Bon Appetit Beef Stew with Stout Guinness.



(ETA: Picture above is from 2009 St. Patty's feast.)

I kept to the recipe more or less every year, adding a bay leaf or two and doubling the portion to serve 4. A few more spoons of cornstarch to thicken, and pinches of brown sugar and a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce has been added to round out the taste.

The recipe called for the stew to be served with a side of Colcanon, mashed potatoes with kale. I used to just do mashed potatoes, but the public demanded potatoes IN the stew. And I obliged.

The challenge wasn't the stew but the proportion. Let me just say that I have NEVER cooked with 4 lbs. of meat before.

Yep. 4 lbs. of stew beef, 6 carrots, 2 bags of baby Russet potatoes, 3 onions, a pack of whole white mushrooms (because I have it laying around), 2 bottles of Guinness, 1.5 cartons of beef stock, 2 bay leaves, a few sprigs of thyme, about a table spoon or two of brown sugar, a few shakes of Worcestershire, and, as always, a few spoonfuls of cornstarch + broth to thicken things up.

And a VERY big pot.

I fed all 8 with leftover of maybe 4 servings more.

For dessert, I searched the web and found a recipe for a Bailey's Irish Cream Fruit Dip which I modified slightly. Now it doubles fantastically as frosting for Giada's almond cupcakes. (I just did the cake and instead of the raspberry cream, I use the Bailey's dip.)

Mix together:
One 8-oz. tub CoolWhip, thawed
One 5-oz. packet vanilla instant pudding
1/2 c. Bailey's
1/2 c. milk (Original recipe called for one cup. I think that may just be too soupy.)

Served with fruits, white/angel food cake, a bar of chocolate. Whatever! Just don't let the kids near it. It has quite a kick for a harmless looking sweet treat. :)