A one-bowl cake. And I had all the ingredients, so I made it. French bread cutting board from
@Taffy 's trip to France, tablecloth from friend in Iran. (and the things you notice after you post a photo -- why is the knife handle facing the other way?)
New York Times - Melissa Clark, April 7, 2020
One-Bowl Poundcake
1/2 cup liquid fat
2 eggs
1/2 cup plain yogurt or buttermilk or sour cream
dash of vanilla or almond extract (or brandy)
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg. OPTIONAL
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 1/4 cups flour
First, heat your oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour a loaf pan. (Or grease and line it with parchment.)
Now, get out a big bowl, and add a cup (or quite a bit less) of sugar. If you have an orange, lime or a lemon, grate its zest into the bowl. If you need a little aromatherapy, work the zest into the sugar with your fingers. This technique is supposed to infuse the citrus into the sugar. To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure it is more effective than just whisking, but it smells amazing.
Add the wet ingredients to the bowl: liquid fat (olive oil, coconut oil, sunflower oil, whatever you’ve got; I used melted butter), 2 eggs, plain yogurt or buttermilk or sour cream (or whole milk and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice) along with a dash of vanilla or almond extract (or brandy), if you like, and 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg. (You could skip this, but I love it).
Whisk in the dry ingredients in this order: salt, soda, baking powder, and cup cornmeal. Once smooth whisk in flour.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Let it (mostly) cool in the pan. Then slice off a thick piece, butter it and let yourself be soothed.
Thank you all for your comments and saying it looked delicious -- and for those of you who know that I don't really cook, please understand how easy this recipe was to follow, how flexible the ingredients list is, and how fail-proof this recipe is; I added it above if you are interested. I realize that American use of measurements is impractical and imprecise but that's all I have. And yes, Domenico, the promise was kept and it was both delicious and soothing. But living alone, I immediately put it into chunks and froze most of it for later so I wouldn't eat it all at once or end up giving it to the squirrel if it got old. (although he still hovers around waiting for his next treat)
@caterina -- surprise, right? let's see if this period of isolation results in more cooking development for me.
@helstor -- the mess made by this one bowl, one pan cake was so easy to clean up!
@louannwarren -- I realized after you said that about the blue handled knife it would have made more sense for it to be facing the front of this photo. Next time.