Erica De Mane

Peaches and Almonds, by Auguste Renoir, 1901.

Recipe below: Orzata and Olive Oil Cake

In normal times I’m one of those cooks who shop for dinner every day. There’s nothing in my freezer except vodka, gin, and ice cubes. Things sure have changed. I now worry constantly about feeding my people. Right now my people are my husband, Fred, my sister, Liti, often our neighbor Adrianne, my cats, Buddy and Little Red, and now Liti’s cat, Delilah.

Previously dinner was the only meal I cooked, and it was usually a recipe I’d been working on for a book or a magazine, or for this blog. So I gathered last-minute ingredients at 6 p.m. from West Side Market or Citarella or the Chelsea Market, and that was that. I bought what I needed for the recipe. I’ve never thought much about breakfast or lunch. I never had kids, because, frankly, I didn’t think I’d be able to take care of them. So no kids’ breakfast or lunch to prepare, my husband ate lunch at work, I went out to the deli for a sandwich or had leftovers, and my sister lived blocks away. Now I worry there’s nothing in the house for the meal. I’m making peppers and eggs and gashouse eggs and tuna salad sandwiches and grilled cheese with bad tomatoes. I need to remember to keep peanut butter in the house, and salami, and milk, and apples, and tons of cat food. I’ve finally become what I’ve always dreaded, a housewife. It feels weird.

Now I, like everyone, try to shop only once a week, and my small freezer is full. Sausages, ground meat, homemade chicken stock. I make chili and ragù, freezing half of it for a later date. I’ve also been making my olive oil yogurt cake again. It’s good for breakfast. Not too sweet, sort of healthy, I guess. I usually flavor it with vanilla or brandy or sometimes orange or lemon zest. Yesterday I noticed an ancient bottle of orzata syrup behind all my vinegars. I hadn’t used that in at least a year. It was a bit furry around the rim, but it smelled wonderful.  Every Italian-American has a bottle of this almond-flavored syrup hanging around. We used it all the time when I was a kid, mostly adding it to seltzer. My father would often plop a lump of lemon ice in our orzata sodas. That was the best summer drink ever. I don’t think about orzata much anymore, maybe because I’m not so fond of sweet drinks these days, preferring dry wine. But there it was, so I decided to add some to my olive oil yogurt cake. The result was subtle and kind of cozy. You might want to give this simple cake a try.

Stay safe. Eat olive oil cake.

Orzata and Olive Oil Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
A pinch of salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
2 large eggs
1 cup whole milk plain yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons orzata
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup blanched almonds, toasted, cooled, and roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Rub a little olive oil into a loaf pan.

Put the flour in a medium bowl. Add the baking powder, salt, and nutmeg, and give it all a good stir.

In another bowl, combine the eggs, yogurt, sugar, and the orzata, and mix well. You can use a beater, but often I don’t bother.

Add the flour mix to the yogurt mix, stirring everything together. Add the olive oil, working it in. Now add the almonds, and give it all a quick stir.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake until browned and puffy, about 45 minutes.

I find this cake is as good with prosecco as it is with espresso.