The next few posts have been carefully planned to coincide with my parents visiting from the States. I last saw them in June '08 and I can hardly believe I will have them sitting here with me in my flat tomorrow morning. Needless to say, I am very happy and I decided to make this bread a 'welcome to Australia' treat for their arrival. I made it for my friend Cassie when she came to visit me in London and we decided that the lemon glaze is what makes this loaf so special.


The Post-Impressionist pioneer of Expressionism, Vincent van Gogh, is one of the most beloved and famous artists in history. Van Gogh suffered from mental illness which may have been due in part to his love of absinthe and lead poisoning (at that time all paints were lead based). In the beginning of his career his palette was somber and muted. It was after meeting important Impressionist painters, Passiaro, Monet, and Gauguin that his work began to lighten in colour and movement. It was during his time in mental institutions that the famous swirls began to appear in his work (1). With regard to still life painting, van Gogh was most prolific with the subject of sunflowers. Done in two distinct series, the sunflowers were all completed before van Gogh began the painting Still Life: Red Poppies and Daisies where the influence of the series is visually evident (2). The curving lines found in the flowing leaves are characteristic of the work produced during van Gogh's stay in Saint-Rémy. It was during this period that van Gogh also produced the well known painting, Starry Night (view here), also displaying the swirling brushstrokes.


It is the seeds from the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, that are used for culinary purposes. They are commonly baked into rolls and sweet breads in addition to coating the exterior of bagels. The seeds can be finely ground to use as a filling for pastries. The Joy of Cooking states that "the most desirable [seeds] come from Holland and are a slate-blue color." The seeds can also be pressed to make poppyseed oil which is very popular as a salad dressing (3). My recipe for the very dense and rich bread was adapted from one for pound cake and it seems to be a cross between the British and French versions of the dish. In the UK dried fruits of sultanas are added (I opted for seeds instead) and in France, lemon is added to their quatre-quarts mixture (4). Regardless of its origin, my cakey bread recipe with blueberry honey butter makes for a wonderful welcome breakfast!!


{Lemon Poppy Seed Bread}
adapted from The Cake Bible, by Rose Levy Beranbaum
makes 1 loaf

3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 c milk
1 1/2 c flour
3/4 c vanilla sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 TB lemon zest
3 TB poppy seeds
4 TB butter, softened

{lemon syrup}
1 lemon, juiced
1/3 c superfine sugar

Combine the eggs, vanilla extract, and milk. In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients. Add the softened butter and mix well. Slowly incorporate the egg mixture and mix until you have a thick batter.

Pour into a prepared bread pan. Place in a preheated oven (180 C) for 30-40 minutes. Cover with aluminum foil for the first 2/3 of the cooking time. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Let cool.

Heat the lemon juice and superfine sugar in a small sauce pan. Swirl the pan until the mixture begins to bubble and is slightly reduced. Prick the top of the bread with a toothpick and slowly pour the lemon syrup over the bread. Serve chilled or warm with blueberry honey butter.


{Blueberry Honey Butter}

1/2 c blueberries
1/4 c honey
1/2 c butter

Heat the blueberries and 2 TB of the honey in a small saucepan until the mixture has reduced by half (takes about 3 minutes of constant stirring).

Add the remaining honey and softened butter. Mix well with an electric hand mixer to make light and fluffy. Place in refrigerator to set.

These tasty treats were made for my colleague Laura for her birthday. Happy Birthday Laura! I found a beautiful bottle of rose water and I decided that delicate macarons were the perfect destination for this fragrant ingredient. Rose water is a by-product from the creation of rose oil which is used in perfumes. Found predominantly in Asian and Middle Eastern cooking, it is commonly used to flavour sweets in the west. You can find instructions to make your own brew of rose water here.


Henri Fantin-Latour was a French painter known for both his flower paintings and group portraits. His style was very precise and he adhered to traditional techniques even though his contemporaries were the radical artists Edouard Manet and Renoir (1). His painting has a smooth enamel quality and his palette is quite somber and subtle. From the 1860s to 1904 he repeatedly painted still lifes of flowers while refining his style and experimenting with texture and colour. To emphasize his delicate compositions, Fantain-Latour often used a gray cloth or piece of cardboard as a background. His attention to light and control of tones allowed him to capture the essence of the beautiful blooms (2).


Traditionally, macarons are made with egg whites, almond powder, and sugar. The word macaron when anglicized becomes macaroon which is easily confused with a similar pastry of the same name that is a dense single cookie (not a sandwich like the macaron) and is made with coconut or almond paste. The confection we know today as a macaron was invented by the French pâtisserie Ladurée (3). The soft and chewy macaron comes in a rainbow of colours and just as many flavours. You can easily adapt this recipe by replacing the 1/2 c ground pistachios with ground almonds and adding any flavoring you desire. Lemon zest, mint, crystalized ginger, and coconut are a few on the top of my list to try.


{Pistachio Rose Water Macarons with Rose Water Meringue Buttercream}
adapted from Martha Stewart

1 1/4 c icing sugar
1/4 c finely ground almonds
1/2 c finely ground pistachios
2 large egg whites
pinch of cream of tartar
1 tsp rose water
rose water meringue buttercream, for filling (recipe below)

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Whisk the egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue whisking until soft peaks form. Reduce the speed to low and add 1/4 c of the icing sugar. Increase the speed to high, and whisk until stiff peaks form, about 8 minutes. Add the remaining icing sugar, ground pistachios, almonds, and rose water. Fold until the mixture is smooth and shiny.

Transfer the mixture to a pastry bag and pipe 3/4 inch rounds on parchment-lined baking sheets. Tap the bottom of each sheet to release trapped air and let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven to 325F and bake 1 sheet at a time for 10 minutes, rotating it half way through. Keep an eye on the macarons and as soon as they start to colour, remove from oven and set aside. After each batch, increase the oven temperature to 375 for 5 minutes and then lower it back to 325 before baking the next batch.

Let cool on the sheet for 2 minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack. Sandwich 2 of the same size macarons with 1 tsp of rose water meringue buttercream. Serve immediately or store stacked between layers of parchment paper.