SHOW & RECIPE FOR MAY 31

A NEW AGE OF INDIAN
In this country, we thought we knew what Indian food was – having learned it from the British, of all people. Yet adopted Houstonian Anita Jaisinghani wasn’t satisfied with our vision of the overly-spiced gravies we invariably called “curries” and offered us her restaurant Indika for a different view. Authentically Indian yet also creative – still, no “fusion” for this chef – Indika can teach us a lot about a huge country filled with religious and regional differences, as Anita joins us in the studio to explain.

SOMEWHERE, OVER THE RAINBOW
It’s been a tough (and probably weird) couple of years for Houston favorite Rainbow Lodge. After 30-plus years in one location at Bayou Bend, the landmark eatery found itself dispossessed and searching for a new home for some of the most game trophies many of us have ever seen, plus some impressive game recipes. Chef-owner Donnette Hansen chats about the journey to an equally intriguing new location, the longtime home of la Tour d’Argent (on White Oak Bayou, no less), and some of her upcoming special events. For one thing, there’s Father’s Day coming up.

THE LEGEND OF FREI BROTHERS WINES
Today, appellations like the Alexander Valley, Dry Creek and the Russian River are magical to wine lovers everywhere. But they weren’t all that magical in the late 1880s, when a Swiss immigrant named Andrew Frei first started pondering the opportunity to grow grapes. Over the years, grapes produced by these three quite different areas, as Jim Collins of Frei Brothers Winery explains, have been some of the finest in all Sonoma. And since Jim is in charge of the vineyards, he tells us what it takes to keep things that way.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
PLUM CAKE WITH WHIPPED CREAM

Pastry:
½ stick cold butter
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 ¼ cups sifted flour
1-tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup sugar mixed with ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 pounds plums (washed, pitted, then quartered, but not cut all the way so the quarters can be spread like flower petals)
1 cup apricot glaze or jelly
½ cup sliced almonds (toasted)
1-cup heavy cream (whipped with 2 teaspoon of sugar)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees, generously butter an 11-inch tart pan on the bottom and sides. Cream the butter and sugar in a small bowl with an electric mixer at high speed. Sift the flour and baking powder together, add the salt and combine by hand with the butter-sugar mixture. Press the dough smoothly over the bottom and up the sides of the prepared tin. Arrange the plums skin down in the pastry shell in rows, fanning the plums. Sprinkle generously with the cinnamon sugar, and bake for about 45 minutes. Cool the tart at room temperature. Heat the apricot glaze with two teaspoons cold water in a saucepan, and glaze the plums with a pastry brush. Sprinkle the toasted almonds evenly over the plums. Cut in wedges and serve with whipped cream. Serves 8-10.