Parmesan Cake for SRC

I admit it, I've been a lurker.
Yup, I've been at this blog before, Bewitching Kitchen just looking...

And then I got it as my assigned blog this month for the Secret Recipe Club.
I was happy.  There are so many recipes here I want to try.

Sally makes the most incredible range of food.  From Mexican Pizza to Brazilian specialties, I was in a quandary, big time, but I managed to find the 'one' recipe to make and feature.

Although if I ever find Lamb Shanks at an affordable price I'm so going to make her Lamb Shanks en Papillote with the Cauliflower-Celeriac puree. 
Of course with 90 degree + temps around here, it wouldn't have been a good choice even if I managed to find some.

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

I finally settled on her Sophie Grigson's Parmesan Cake.

Why?
Well, I got some totally awesome fresh, organic tomatoes at the Farmer's Market, and I thought the combo would be brilliant. 
OK, so her picture decided me. sigh.
But it made for an incredible dinner alongside some fresh corn, those tomatoes and a grilled chicken breast.

I will be trying her Gougeres, along with the Feijoada alongside a nice glass of Caipirinhas.
I think I need to have a dinner party so I have an excuse to make all these.   

 Without further ado, and no drum rolls either, here's the Parmesan Cake. 

Recipe:  Parmesan Cake  375 deg.  25-30 minutes

1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. salt (opt. if using salted butter)
2 oz.  Grated Parmesan (pay the money and get the good one as in a chunk of Parmesan and grate it yourself.)
1/4 cup Semolina Flour
grated black pepper
6 Tbsp. melted, unsalted butter, melted and cooled (I actually used salted butter so I omitted the salt)
3 lg. eggs, separated. 
3/4 cup milk

Sift the dry ingredients together and then add the grated cheese. Beat the egg whites together until stiff and set aside.

  Whisk the egg yolks, milk and melted butter together.  Make a well in the dry ingredients, add the milk and egg yolk mixture, mix well.

Then fold in the beaten egg whites.
Spoon  into a greased 8 inch round pan (or in my case, dump)  You can actually see the egg whites here, if you squint a little.  I also swirled about a teaspoon of melted butter into the pan after greasing it.  It was a good thing. 

and bake in a  375 deg. oven for 25-30 minutes or until the top feels firm to the touch.
Cut into wedges and serve warm or cold.

I also decided to see how some strawberry jam would go on this, and I have to report, it went very well.
I just couldn't resist, it was fresh out of the oven and smelled heavenly.  Really, heavenly and oh boy did it hit my taste-buds right.  A hint of salted butter from the butter I'd greased the pan with alongside the saltiness of the cheese and the strawberry jam.  A bit of a surprising combo, but one I repeated, but don't tell anyone, K?

Sometimes the simplest recipes are the best.   I can see serving this at one of our Tapas Nights, and I bet it would go so good with a nice home made tomato soup or even the one in the can.   Maybe even a nice bowl of chili? 

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