My podcast this week is with Beth Marlin Lichter, an old friend I rediscovered from a Facebook food group, “Who’s in The Kitchen,” which she started in April while confined her home in Portland, Oregon, because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The world took a dramatic turn for Beth, as it did for the rest of the country, in early March. An accomplished children’s recording artist, songwriter and performer (check out her bio here), Beth and hubby George found themselves sheltering in place at home, with her music career on hold.
As it has for many of us, food became a central focus of her life and attention. Beth, whom I first met when she lived in Southern California in the mid-1980s, told me how she found comfort in returning to old family recipes as well as coming up with new ones in this challenging time.
One she posted that caught my eye is for a Cornmeal/Almond Cake with Lemon and Olive Oil, a uncomplicated recipe that suits her frame of mind right now: trying to be experimental but also “wanting to go back to foods that reek of comfort.” (You can find the recipe at the bottom of this post.)
She also craves a wonderful egg salad that her immigrant grandmother used to make for her as a child. “There's no formal recipe,” she said. “She had my grandfather chop the hard boiled eggs very finely and then she added finely minced onion and celery and enough mayo to moisten but not drown the eggs.”
In the podcast, Beth talked about how the changes in her life due to the virus have taken a toll. “I’m so shaken psychically that I can’t focus on music at the moment,” she said. “I’m focussing on the kind of survival things that that just bring me comfort and require a lot of time and patience, such as cooking and walking.”
Beth realized that her 2020 New Year’s resolution of cooking her way through Yotam Ottolenghi’s cookbooks wasn’t realistic, given the sudden scarcity of ingredients and difficulty of shopping, especially as she is over 60 and has an autoimmune disorder. Instead, she and George have turned to food deliveries from Whole Foods via Amazon Fresh and Costco. A daughter bought them a gift of three weekly meals from the meal kit delivery service, Blue Apron. George, who had never cooked before, suddenly got into preparing meals using the kits. Their favorite so far has been Dukkah-Spiced Chicken and Orange Salsa with Brussels Sprouts and Farro.
There were some hiccups when it came to online ordering; instead of six bananas they thought they’d ordered from Costco, six bunches arrived—some 36 bananas in all. Beth made smoothies, added them to cereal, froze quite a few, and made a fabulous banana bread with walnuts and chocolate chips. Of course, the pictures of everything she’s making get posted to “Who’s in the Kitchen,” along with reader comments offering suggested variations—like adding chopped dried apricots.
More than 50 folks are now members of the interest group, with many of them relatives, friends, friends of friends and past colleagues of Beth. She sees it as a site where people can post what they had for breakfast, whether it’s scrambled eggs or a bowl of Wheaties—or, alternately, pictures of meals that look like they should be on the menu at one of the many popular Portland eateries—now sadly shuttered.
Often recipes, tips and multiple comments pour in. For someone like me, always on the hunt for a new recipe to try in captivity, it’s another great resource. My faves are the usually the bread-related ones—or soft pretzels, such as is this one from Beth’s friend Loraine Fusco, clearly an adventurous baker. It includes a link to a recipe (click here to get it).
The scarcities and challenges of the current situation have caused Beth, like many of us, to do some introspection and search for a positive spin on what’s happened to her.
“Doing without certain foods that I’m used to and love—it’s giving me a sense of being a little resilient and adaptable and being able to rise above a sense of deprivation.”
That said, she can’t wait to go back to some of her favorite Portland restaurants—assuming that they’ll still be there when the virus is no longer an immediate threat. We’re all hoping that will be true about the places we love and miss, wherever we live.
Please click here to listen to the podcast and see below to get Beth’s recipe for Cornmeal/Almond Cake With Lemon and Olive Oil.
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See you in the kitchen!
Beth’s Cornmeal/Almond Cake With Lemon and Olive Oil
Ingredient Checklist:
1/2 cup milk
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 1/2 cups almond flour or almond meal
1 cup sugar
1 cup fine yellow cornmeal (medium grind is ok…will be chewier)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for pan
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure almond extract
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
Step 1: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine milk and lemon juice in a small bowl; let stand until thickened, about 5 minutes. In a large bowl, combine almond flour, sugar, and zest. Stir in cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add oil, eggs, and almond extract to milk and lemon juice mixture, and whisk until combined. Then stir the wet ingredients into the almond flour/cornmeal mixture.
Step 2: Brush a 9-inch springform pan with oil. Pour batter into pan. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until cake is golden and a tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Unmold and dust with confectioners' sugar just before serving.
Beth’s Notes: Cake can be kept covered at room temperature up to 2 days. I sometimes serve it with vanilla ice cream or homemade whipped cream, with a drizzle of berry compote or fresh berries. But it doesn’t need dressing up. It’s great with just a sprinkle of confectioner’s sugar on top.