Houston's Premier Scuba and Dive Shop Oceanic Ventures Inc.

(713) 523-3483 (dive)
5808 Newcastle Drive
Houston, TX 77401

Cooking

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Chef Recommended Osmanthus Cake

In looking through my email today I found an unusual cake recipe, Osnanthus Cake from the Woks of Life website. You are probably asking what is Osmanthus? Well… Osmanthus is a sweet, fragrant flower native to East Asia. You may find it as a dried tea, in syrup for baking Chinese desserts, or as a flavoring in wine for braised meat dishes. The closest equivalent you might know of is elderflower. Both elderflower and osmanthus share the same lightly floral, yet not overpowering flavor.

You can find the complete instructions for making this cake including photographs at the Woks of Life Website but here is what you will need:

Osmanthus Cake

This cake is the perfect dessert dressed up with whipped cream and berries (or just a scoop of ice cream), or the perfect breakfast and afternoon tea cake..

  • Servings: 12
  • Prep Time: 25 Minutes
  • Cook Time:35 Minute
  • Total Time: 1 Hour

INGREDIENTS

For the Cake

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter(at room temperature)
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup oil (we’ve used neutral flavored coconut oil, regular coconut oil, avocado oil, and vegetable oil with success)
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1/4 cup osmanthus syrup
  • 1 1/3 cups almond flour
  • 1 cup self-rising flour (plus extra for dusting)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the Glaze

  • 2 cups confectioner’s sugar(sifted)
  • 4-5 tablespoons milk
  • 2 tablespoons osmanthus syrup

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease and flour a 9-inch round springform pan. You can also use an 8-inch square pan, but the pan should not have a dark non-stick coating, or it’s likely it will burn. 
  • Add the room temperature butter, sugar, and vanilla extract to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, 1 minute. If your coconut oil is solid, add it at the same time as the butter. If it’s liquid, add it after the butter and sugar have had a chance to cream together.
  • The mixture may be a little separated if you are using liquid rather than solid coconut oil. That’s okay. Scrape the sides of the bowl, and then add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. It should be golden in color and thickly emulsified. Mix in the osmanthus syrup. Give the bowl another scrape to make sure everything is mixed evenly.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk together the almond flour, self-rising flour, and salt. Turn the mixer speed to low, and gradually add the dry ingredients in three batches.
  • Pour the mixture into your prepared pan. Immediately place into your preheated oven, and bake for 25 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F, and tent the cake with foil. Bake for another 10-15 minutes.
  • The cake is done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. NOTE, poking the cake prematurely may cause it to collapse in the center. (If this happens, it’ll still taste good, so don’t worry!). Remove the cake from the oven to cool. It should be a deep brown color.
  • Cool for 20 minutes before removing the cake from the pan. A paring knife around the rim of the pan helps loosen it. Let cool completely on a wire rack before glazing.
  • If glazing the cake, whisk together the sifted powdered sugar, milk, and osmanthus syrup until you get a smooth glaze. Start with 4 tablespoons of milk and only add the last tablespoon if the glaze looks too thick. Pour over the cooled cake.

Let me know how it turns out for you….

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Chef Recommended – Baked Apple French Toast

I am getting tired of Eggs in the morning (although Ann never tires of them) do I have been looking for some fun alternatives. I found a wonderfully simple recipe in Jennifer Segal’s Once Upon a Chef. It will make a nice treat!

Baked Apple French Toast

A lovely mash-up of French toast and apple pie, this prep-ahead baked apple French toast has all the makings of a special holiday brunch dish.

  • Servings: 8
  • Prep Time: 15 Minutes
  • Cook Time: 55 Minutes
  • Total Time: 1 Hour 10 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

For the French Toast

  • One 1-lb challah or raisin challah
  • 5 large eggs
  • 1-1/2 cups half & half
  • 3 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons bourbon (optional; replace with apple cider or half-&-half if desired)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Heaping 1/4 teaspoon salt

For the Apple Topping

  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 4 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
  • 6 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For Serving

  • Confectioners’ sugar and/or maple syrup

Instructions

  1. Butter a 9 x 13-inch or 3-QT baking dish. Slice the bread into 3/4-inch-thick slices.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, half & half, maple syrup, bourbon, vanilla, and salt.
  3. Dip each slice of challah into the custard mixture for about 5 seconds, then arrange in an overlapping pattern in the prepared baking dish. Be sure the entire bottom of the dish is covered with the bread. Pour any remaining custard over the bread. Set aside.
  4. In a large sauté pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the apples, brown sugar, maple syrup, and cinnamon. Cook, stirring frequently, until the apples are softened and the sugar-syrup is thickened, about 8 minutes. Spoon the apples and sugar syrup evenly over the bread, making sure not to leave any of the syrup behind. If not baking immediately, cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Otherwise, proceed with the recipe.
  5. Preheat the oven to 350°F and set an oven rack in the middle position.
  6. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until puffed and golden, about 20 minutes more. Remove from the oven and, using a fine sieve, dust with the confectioners’ sugar. Serve with maple syrup.

Let me know how it turns out for you….

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Chef Recommendation – Strawberry Oat Bars

I have heard some comments that all I recommend are high sugar deserts. Well that is probably right but I went out and found a posting from Martha Stewart entitled 17 Smarter Dessert Recipes That Are Great for Everyone, Including People with Diabetes There were some very interesting ones and this one caught my eye, It could be done with any fresh fruit or even with frozen strawberries. Maybe you might want to give it a try. Here is the recipe from Martha Stewart…

Ingredients

Ingredient Checklist

  • 1 1/2 cups pitted dates
  • 1/4 cup raw macadamia nuts
  • 2 tablespoons old-fashioned rolled oats
  • Pinch sea salt
  • 1 cup strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced

Directions

Instructions Checklist

  • Step 1 Pulse dates, nuts, oats, and salt in a food processor until combined.
  • Step 2 Press the date mixture into the bottom of a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.
  • Step 3 Mash half the strawberries and spread on top of date mixture. Top with remaining strawberries. Slice into rectangles.

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Summertime Treat – Coconut Cream Pie

We were sitting around talking in the Oceanic Ventures’ backyard (i.e. David’s Backyard) and the subject of desserts came up. Zaide mentioned a coconut pie and I just started thinking about some of the fun special coconut pies I have enjoyed around the world.

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Sau Bay, Fiji

There is probably nothing as special as eating a coconut pie, made from fresh coconuts sitting and watching the sunset over the Somosomo Straits in Fiji. Couple this with a nice cup of tea followed by a whisky on the deck and I am in heaven! Oh that is after a fabulous day of diving and living in a remote resort.

The funny thing was that in my email this morning was an email from “Once Upon a Chef’s” Jenn Segal with a recipe for a Coconut Cream Pie. It is a little different from the Coconut Pie in Fiji (I am trying to get the recipe or I will recreate it soon) but it looks wonderful. I can’t wait to try it (or maybe we can talk Zaide into making it for us to try!)

Maybe you should try it. Once you have your slice, sit back and remember some of your favorite dives. In your mind transport yourself to those times and as you enjoy each bite, just imagine yourself being there. Relive the experience and just be there. Now it is time for the next bite…

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Dreaming of Cozumel

Dreaming of Cozumel

Ok, we have all been at home too long!  Spring and summer are finally arriving and it is time to start thinking about getting back in the water.  I know that the Twilight Zone episode is continuing and its effects can still be seen and most of the islands are not open to tourists right now.  But, that doesn’t mean you can’t start dreaming of being underwater!

One of my favorite spots to dream about is Cozumel.  Because of its relative location to Houston, it seems more like a local dive spot than a foreign destination.  In two hours, I can be there and in four hours I can be checked it, changed into dive equipment, and jump in the crystal blue water just off the beach at the El Presidenté Intercontinental.  Or better yet, I can be racing off in a boat with our friends at Scuba Du to do a dive further down the reefs.

Diving in Cozumel is a real treat.  No matter what you are looking for, they have it.   The reefs offer a wide variety of marine life and formations.  There are vertical walls at Palacar and coral bommies in twenty feet of water nearby at Columbia.   There are gently sloping walls at Chankanauub and fast-moving fun at Passo Cedral.  For snorkelers, there are sites up and down the coast with beautiful fish and healthy corals just out of reach but easy enough to swim over.  For the hard-core diver, you can do four dives a day plus a night dive right off the beach or off a boat with your own guide. 

Eric & Ann Keibler
Eric & Ann Keibler

I have been going to Cozumel for over thirty years and I never tire of the diving or the island.  My home away from home is now the El Presidenté.  The staff at the hotel make me feel so welcome when I arrive and they are truly happy I am there.  But it is not just me; they go out of their way to make everyone who visits feel welcome.  Last December, Ann and I spent our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary with a group of divers at the hotel and it was a very memorable experience. 

Beachside Anniversary Party Set-up

Another of the things I love about the island is the food.  I know, I am supposed to be there for the diving but you have to eat.  Cozumel is fast becoming a foodie destination with a number of well-known restaurants serving creative dishes that draw on all of the senses.  But there are also some hidden gems serving very traditional Mexican and Yucatecan dishes.

Because things are still a little in flux, I can’t hop on a plane right now but we can sit back and dream.  I can also try and recreate a little magic myself by making a special dish or two from my favorite hotel.  Chef Sergio Turriza, the Executive Chef for El Presidenté sent me a couple of suggestions that I could make to bring Cozumel to Houston.

Sergio Turriza is the Executive Chef.
Chef Sergio Turriza, and the team at El Presidente Cozumel

So my suggestion is to make one or both of these recipes and sit back and imagine yourself having just completed a beautiful dive and relaxing at the Palapa bar and watching the sun slip slowly under the horizon with its vivid reds and yellows dancing across the blue sky.  Think of the day dives and the joy of anticipating more diving soon…

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Steramine Sanitizer

Steramine Sanitizing Tablets

There is a lot of discussion these days about the best method of sanitizing our homes and at some point in the future, our diving equipment.

Just after Hurricane Harvey we looked into the best way to sanitize scuba equipment that was underwater in the flood. What we found was that a product we had already been using to sanitize our rebreather lungs would also work to decontaminate the equipment exposed to Harvey’s flood waters.

Now comes the next wave of concern COVID-19. In looking at the EPA’s recomendations for sanitizing our homes we find some of the same recomendation we found then — Bleach being the leading recomedation. But looking at it a little further, we find that the same product we recommended for Harvey can also be used to help combat COVID-19 in our homes and with less harmful effects than bleach solutions.

The manufacturers website states “Our tablets are used to sanitize food contact surfaces and equipment in Restaurants, Bars, Daycares, Gyms, Assisted Living Facilities, Hotels, Schools and other industries. This product fulfills the sanitizing criteria of the U.S. Public Health Service.

STERAMINE SANITIZING TABLETS are approved by the EPA and accepted by the USDA as a safe and effective sanitizer for glassware, countertops, tables, utensils, beverage equipment, frozen dessert machines, scuba equipment and any other food contact surfaces and equipment to kill:

  • CA-MRSA (Community Associated Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus)
  • Escherichia coli
  • HIV-1 (Aids Virus)
  • Listeria monocytogenes
  • Staphylococcus aureus”

The active ingredient in Steramine, quaternary ammonium, is on the EPA list of antimicrobial agents that meet their criteria for use against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19 novel coronavirus). Steramine has a long history of use that meets the public health and regulatory criteria of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS), and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). New York lists specific products that meed these guidelines and you will find Stramine on the list.

With all of this in mind, We think Steramine is an alternative in the fight against COVID-19 and other viruses and bacteria. It is an item regularly stock.