When they’re in season, load up on delicious,
low-calorie asparagus. Photo of grilled
asparagus with romesco sauce* courtesy
California Asparagus Commission.

Many recent studies indicate that certain nutrients can positively affect the brain—specifically in areas related to cognitive processing. They promote stronger blood flow which leads to mental sharpness, and reduce the risks of heart disease and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Several studies led by Fernando Gómez-Pinilla, Ph.D, a leading neuroscientist at UCLA, show that the super fats your brain needs most are omega-3 fatty acids. Your brain converts them into DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), which enhances neuronal communication and promotes neuronal growth.

In other words, the right nutrients can help our health, aging process and more efficient brain-body functioning.

To boost your brain power, eat these foods recommended by Michael Gonzalez-Wallace, the author of Super Body, Super Brain and the website SuperBodySuperBrain.com.

Salmon and succotash. Photo courtesy McCormick.com. Here’s the recipe.

 
“Life is about choices,” says Gomez-Wallace. “Selecting the right nutrients can play a key role in your health.”

It’s easy to include several of these brain foods in your daily meal and snacking plan. Just keep a list with you to remind you of why, for example, an apple a day instead of a pear keeps the doctor away.

 
*Romesco sauce (salsa romesco) is a nut and red pepper-based sauce that originated in Catalonia, Spain. It is typically made from roasted or raw almonds, pine nuts, and/or hazelnuts, roasted garlic, olive oil, bitxo chiles and/or nyora peppers (a small, round, variety of red bell pepper). Other common ingredients can include roasted tomatoes, red wine vinegar and onions. It is a popular sauce with seafood (with fennel or mint leaves added) and anything from poultry and lamb to vegetables.

Plain Greek yogurt substitutes well for sour
cream and whipped cream. Photo courtesy
Salad-In-A-Jar.com, which offers a recipe for
homemade Greek yogurt.

The new year means new beginnings. That’s why we have the tradition* of New Year’s resolutions: to set goals, make lifestyle changes, accomplish big projects, and so forth.

Dieting is on the New Year’s resolutions list for many people, and was always at the top of ours for most of our life, significant weight loss was at the top of our list. And it rarely was achieved.

So 10 years ago, we revised our resolution strategy and instead chose to make one healthy food change each year: a simple and easy switch of one food for another. There’s no sacrifice; just a trade in of one food for a different, equally tasty food. We’re very pleased with the results.

So our tip of the day is: Make one healthy food resolution this year. Here’s what we’ve done so far: 16 great trades. Please contribute your own favorite food switches.

Mix equal amounts of pasta and vegetables for a healthier Pasta Primavera. Photo courtesy FatFreeVegan.com. Here’s the recipe.

Even if you love broccoli or spinach, for example, they can lose their charm if they’re on the table every night. Pick a “vegetable of the month” and add it to your repertoire. You may find that you adore chard, kale and turnips, for example.
 
Not a resolution, but a good thing to do in the new year:

 
*The practice of making New Year’s resolutions developed partially from Christian Lenten sacrifices, but the tradition goes way back: Ancient Babylonians made promises to the gods at the start of each year. The Romans began each year by making promises to the god Janus, for whom the first month of the year is named. Medieval knights took the “peacock vow” at the conclusion of each Christmas season that re-affirmed their commitment to chivalry. Some Christian groups created watchnight services, held late on New Year’s Eve, preparing for the year ahead by praying and resolving. During the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, through Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, Jews reflect upon their wrongdoings over the prior year and seek and offer forgiveness.

For your imbibing pleasure, we present the final two cocktails of the year. Both are made with your choice of sparkling wine: Cava, Champagne, or Prosecco. Cava and Prosecco are less expensive and work just as well in mixed drinks.

First, the Ginger Sparkler, created by New York City caterer Canard, Inc. It combines vodka and ginger beer (a more intense predecessor of ginger ale) with Prosecco and can be served year-round without the sparkling wine topper.

Keep the ingredients well chilled.
 
 
RECIPE #1: GINGER SPARKLER COCKTAIL RECIPE

Ingredients For One Drink

Top off a ginger cocktail with Prosecco or other sparkler. Photo courtesy Canard, Inc. | New York City.

1. GLASS. Combine the ingredients in a tall glass over ice.

2. FLUTE. Alternatively, you can serve the cocktail in a Champagne flute; be sure to chill the vodka, lime juice, and ginger beer in advance.

This photo doesn’t begin to capture the glamour of a St. Germain Champagne Cocktail—our favorite Champagne cocktail. St. Germain elderflower liqueur is one of the great food/beverage imports of the last 10 years.

A liqueur made from Alpine elderflowers may sound strange, but it has the exquisite flavor of lychee—in fact, much more so than any lychee liqueur we’ve tried.

Using one ounce rather than a half ounce of St. Germain elderflower liqueur makes the cocktail slightly sweeter.

Ingredients Per Cocktail

1. POUR ingredients into a chilled fluted glass and stir lightly (you don’t want to burst the bubbles).

2. FLOAT half a strawberry or a whole raspberry as a garnish.

3. VARIATION: Experiment with other garnishes. A lemon or orange twist, a slice of fresh ginger, a blackberry or gooseberry.
 
Browse through our cocktail recipes in our Cocktails & Spirits Section.
 
 

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A French standard, crème pâtissière—prnounced CREM pah-tees-YAIR, French for pastry cream—is a stirred custard thickened with cornstarch or flour and typically flavored with vanilla (other flavors can be used).

Crème pâtissière is made of egg yolks, sugar and cream or milk like crème anglaise, but the addition of some starch gives it the stability to be brought to a boil. With the addition of beaten egg whites, it becomes crème Saint-Honoré, a filling for cream puffs. (Here are the different types of custard.)
CRÈME PÂTISSIÈRE RECIPE

Makes about 2 cups.

Ingredients

Preparation
1. WHISK together the egg yolks and sugar in a medium heatproof bowl until the sugar is dissolved. Set aside.

2. COMBINE cream and 1 cup of the milk in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the cream mixture; then add the scraped pod. Bring to a simmer; then remove from heat and set aside for 15 minutes.

3. PREPARE an ice bath: Fill a large bowl with cold water and add three cups of ice cubes.

4. COMBINE the cornstarch with 1/2 cup milk in a small bowl or mug. Stir thoroughly to break up any lumps (they often hide on the bottom of the cup) or they’ll end up in the crème pâtissière.

5. PLACE the saucepan with the cream mixture over a medium heat and bring to a simmer. As soon as bubbles begin to form around the edges, remove the pan from the heat. Be sure the mixture doesn’t boil.

6. SLOWLY pour the hot cream mixture into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly (or pour in a small amount of cream, whisk and repeat). If the hot cream is added to quickly, the eggs will scramble.

7. POUR the cream and eggs mixture back into the saucepan. Add the cornstarch mixture, stirring constantly over medium heat until the mixture is very thick.

8. MOVE the saucepan into the ice bath, adding more ice as necessary to keep the water very cold. Stir rapidly for a minute, until the cream has cooled slightly.

9. REMOVE the vanilla bean. Add the butter and stir until it is completely combined and the pastry cream is smooth. Store in a bowl with plastic wrap pressed against the entire surface of the cream, so that no skin forms. Seal with more plastic wrap and store in the fridge until you’re ready to use it. The cream can be made up to 3 days in advance.

[1] Crown your “king cake”; the person who finds the charm gets to wear the crown (photo © BainFrance.Blogspot).

[2] An elegant version from Parisian baker and confectioner Pierre Hermé (photos #2 and #3 © Pierre Hermé).

[3] Beautifully designed tops.

[4] Gâteau des Rois from another great Parisian bakery (and the temple of macarons), Ladurée (photo © Ladurée).

[5] Souvenir du Sud, by Chef Anthony Terrone at the Peninsula Paris. It is in the shape of a calisson, a traditional Provençal candy (photo © Air France).

Bûches de Noël, fruitcake and Christmas cookies are enjoyed throughout the holiday season. In France, the celebratory confections continue into January with an Epiphany Cake, or Galette des Rois, French for kings’ cake (a galette is a flat cake of pastry).

You can order a Galette des Rois from a French bakery. Alternatively, a recipe to bake your own is below.

But first, some background.

In January, the windows of French pastry shops showcase Galettes des Rois to celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany‡, or Fête de l’Épiphanie in French (January 6th).* The cake is enjoyed beginning a few days before Epiphany, and continuing for a few days after. Some families get a new cake every day!

January 6th is also known as the Twelfth Night, the last night of the 12 days of Christmas. To celebrate, Galettes des Rois are baked throughout France.

Epiphany Cake/Galette des Rois is traditionally a puff pastry (pâte à choux) cake filled with frangipane (almond cream). Other fillings can be substituted, including almond paste, apple, caramel, chestnut, chocolate ganache, and pistachio.

In Provence, in the south of France, the cake, with the medieval-era name of Gâteau des Rois, is an orange-blossom-flavored brioche crown. This style can also be found in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries.

Other versions of the Galette des Rois are made in Belgium, Germany, Portugal, and Switzerland.
 
 
ESSENTIAL: THE FÈVE

But one thing can’t be substituted: the fève. Originally a bean, hidden inside the cake, in modern times it has transformed into a more festive charm (initially a baby, representing baby Jesus) or another trinket that is hidden inside.

The trinket can be anything from a miniature car to a cartoon character (Hello Kitty? Sponge Bob Square Pants?). When we made this cake for a group of adults, we used a key chain featuring a miniature bottle of Champagne.

The French residents of New Orleans made Epiphany Cake part of the Mardi Gras celebration, and it became known as King Cake, but it’s a different style than the French Galette des Rois. Here’s more about it.

Galette des Rois is believed to have originated sometime in the 13th or 14th century, and was initially known as Gâteau des Rois.

A gâteau is a raised cake, frequently iced, while a galette is generally flat, crusty and often filled. The style, the terminology, or both may have changed over time.

While the cake may have originated during the Middle Ages, the tradition of the fève actually has roots stretching back to the Roman Empire. During this time, the Romans celebrated the holiday of Saturnalia, a festival in honor of the pagan god Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture.

According to the Roman writer Justinius, “it has been ordered that at the Saturnalia slaves should everywhere sit down with their masters at the entertainments, the rank of all being made equal” [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturnalia].

A “king” for the day was decided via a cake with a hidden bean baked into it.

This tradition has traveled up through the ages. For example, 14th-century Besançon monks of Eastern France would hide a gold coin in a loaf of bread and elect the chief of their chapter based on who got the gold coin.

During this period, the royal court of France had a custom that whoever got the bean in the cake would have to provide drinks for the entire assembly [source]. 
 
 
GETTING THE SLICE WITH THE CHARM

The person who gets the slice with the charm becomes “king” or “queen” for the day and gets to wear the gold paper crown (provided by the bakery or your nearest party store, if you bake your own cake). But it’s an entailed honor:

By tradition, the king has to provide next year’s galette. You can forgo that French tradition in favor of making the Epiphany Cake your annual party treat.

Hiding some type of token in food is a pre-Christian tradition, with roots in the Roman feast of Saturnalia.† A dry bean would be hidden in a dish prepared for the household staff. The slave who got the slice with the bean would be awarded the “kingship” of the day, which included drinking, gambling, and “general bawdiness.”

In fact, in France, the charm/trinket is known as la fève, the French word for bean. Americans have adopted the idea as the Mardi Gras king cake (Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is celebrated from right after Epiphany until Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday).

French chef Héléne Darroze, who commutes each week between the kitchens of the Connaught Hotel in London and her own two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris, recalls celebrating the Epiphany feast as a child.

Growing up in southwestern France, “each year there would be a series of family parties, and the person who found the token in the cake would buy the charms for the following day’s galette.”

Ingredients

Héléne Darroze’s epiphany cake is filled with chocolate ganache (photo © Héléne Darroze).

1. ROLL out the puff pastry to a thickness of 3/4″ (2mm) with a rolling pin and leave it in the fridge for 1 hour. Cut two rounds of pastry (9-10 inches in diameter) and leave in the fridge.

2. MAKE the frangipane: Mix the butter, sugar, and almonds with a spatula. Add the egg and crème pâtissière little by little and finish with the zest.

3. PLACE one of the rounds of puff pastry on a pastry tray and brush some egg yolk around the edge. Pipe frangipane into the middle, add the “feve” and cover with the second round of puff pastry. Press the edges a bit and leave them in the fridge for an hour.

4. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F (180°C/gas 4). When at temperature, brush the top round with egg yolk. With the back of the knife, make small score lines from the center to the edges in a crescent shape. Repeat all the way around. Pierce with fork tines to vent. Bake for about 40 minutes. Serve warm.

Variations

 
TO SERVE

 
 
Find more of our favorite cake recipes on TheNibble.com.
 
___________________

*Epiphany derives from the ancient Greek theophany, “vision of God,” referring to the revelation of the divine nature of Jesus Christ as told by the Magi. The holiday traditionally falls on January 6th. The night before, the eve of the Epiphany, is called Twelfth Night, formerly the last day of the Christmas festivities and “a time of merrymaking.”

†Saturnalia, a festival spanning December 17-23, honored Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture.

‡Epiphany, also known as Three Kings Day, is a Christian feast day that celebrates the revelation of God incarnate as Jesus Christ. Here’s more about it.

‡‡Important: Do not bake anything plastic or anything metal with paint in a cake. The plastic and paint will melt. Instead, turn the baked cake over and insert the trinket from underneath. It is easier to insert a coin, which will not impart anything harmful (just wash it first).
 
 

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