Brozy's Baking

lentil soup

2009-11-04T17:45:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, B convinced me to try some of Amy's Organic Lentil Soup. It was a hard sell, because lentil soup is ugly. It isn't just plain jane- or ugly betty-ugly. It's hideous

brunehilda-ugly. Lentils aren't just badly dressed but secretly beautiful. Designer clothes, a

makeover, and losing the tacky glasses won't save this dish. There's no recovering from looking like something the dog has already digested. And to top it off, this stuff smells a little bad. But underneath the ugly is an amazing soup. Healthy, filling, and delicious. I fell in love.

Unfortunately, Costco only carries it packaged with an equal amount of minestrone, and while Amy's minestrone is fine, it just can't compare to the recipe we make. So, after reading the back of the soup can and looking up a few recipes online, I threw this together. And I think it's as good as Amy's.

A couple of things: If the soup doesn't taste good, add more salt. Seriously. Salt makes all the difference with this soup. And when you puree, use the blender and not your food processor. It's a real pain to get all the little bits of lentil out of the inside of the blade of the food processor afterward.

lentil soup

5 C dried lentils

2 ribs celery, sliced very thin

carrots, sliced thin (about same amount as celery)

1 large russet potato, peeled and chopped small

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp cumin

salt, to taste

Put lentils in pot; cover with about an inch of water. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down to medium. Add vegetables and spices. Simmer, stirring and adding more water occasionally. When lentils are soft and you are happy with the amount of liquid, turn off the heat. (This will be fairly thick soup.) Take a few cups of the soup and puree them in the blender. Add back to the soup. Salt to taste.

peach pie and fruit theft

2009-10-22T17:21:00.000-07:00

It amazes me, the entitlement people feel toward other people's fruit trees. People who would never dream of stealing so much as a pen think nothing of snatching the tempting fruits of their neighbors' trees. About a year ago, I was reading a popular food blog. The author had posted about fruit was falling to the ground from a neighbor's tree in copious amounts and was apparently going to be wasted. The author confessed to going climbing into the neighbor's yard and taking the fruit. This elicited a barrage of comments from like-minded readers, patting themselves on the back for preventing precious fruit from going to waste. One even had the audacity to strip a neighbor's tree without permission and then present the neighbor with a jar of jam, as though that made up for the theft. (Apparently the neighbors were, in fact, forgiving.)

I was angry when I read the post and the comments, joking about and justifying such theft. But I refrained from commenting because I hadn't commented on the blog reguarly, and I don't like my only comments to be critical. If the negative things on a blog compell me to post more than the positive ones, I just stop reading.

But now I wish I had. Last summer we were delighted to discover that our new home has a peach tree. And the peaches on this tree are the best we've ever tasted. So good that even I, mistrustful of peaches after a childhood of eating far too many canned ones, have looked forward to our peach harvest since January. When the peaches were finally ripe, I put off picking them because I was dismayed by the strange spots they all had. I didn't want to face the possibility that they could be bad. And because we just had a baby, and it has been no small adjustment. Finding even the little time needed to pick the fruit felt overwhelming.

So, the peaches were starting to fall. My husband wanted to eat them, spots notwithstanding. And I, remembering that blogger's post, decided the day had come to pick the fruit regardless of
whether we were actually going to use it. If it was good, we would celebrate with pies and cobblers. If it wasn't, I would prevent any passersby from feeling entitled to take our fruit next year on the mistaken idea that we had wasted it this year. I had a busy day running errands (everything takes so much longer when there's a baby involved), and at night, remembered my
peaches. When I went outside, I discovered that someone had stolen our peaches. Every last one.

I was devastated. We hung a sign on the tree, begging for the return of our fruit. But to no avail. So, I'll say to the internets what I wish I could say to the peach thief: Just because the fruit hasn't been picked yet doesn't mean it won't be. And even if it isn't, even if the fruit rots on the ground, that doesn't justify you in trespassing or stealing from your neighbors. Most of you wouldn't sneak into someone's house to take leftovers out of their fridge to prevent food from wasting, and it's no more your business if they choose to waste their fruit. Either get permission to pick or pony up the dough and go buy your own fruit. Chances are, if your neighbor has a tree, there's a fruit stand selling the same thing. And chances are, if your neighbor isn't going to use the fruit, they'll happily share. We can't give the fruit from our other trees away fast enough. Ask about our cherries or our pears, and the answer will be please, take more! We can't use it all, and it's a shame to waste it. We are delighted to be able to share, and we are all the more delighted that people are considerate enough to ask instead of just taking what is easily in reach.

So--if it's not yours, don't take it.

And now, for the peach pie. We resorted to buying our peaches from a local stand this year, and they were quite good, if not as good as our own peaches would have been. B's father was visiting and peach pie is his favorite, so B asked me to make one for him. I haven't made many pies and the crusts I've tried have been hit-and-miss. So I was excited to try the Best American Classics version. And my excitement was completely justified. This pie was amazing. I'll be making it every year now, and I can't wait to use the crust for a sour cherry pie, too. I made two pies, one with almond extract and one without. Somehow, even though I used the same peaches for both pies, the peaches in the pie without the extract were juicier and created a bit of a flood. The pie was still good, though a bit soggy.

lattice-top peach pie (from New Best Recipes, editors of Cook's Illustrated)

1 recipe pie dough for lattice-top pie

flour for dusting the work surface

6-7 medium, ripe peaches (about 7 C sliced)

1 TB juice from 1 lemon

1 C (7 oz.) + 1 TB sugar

pinch ground cinnamon

pinch freshly grated nutmeg

pinch salt

3-5 TB potato starch or Minute tapioca

*I added about 1 TB almond extract

Remove the dough from the refrigerator (if refrigerated longer than 1 hour, let stand at room temperature until malleable). roll the larger piece of dough to a 15 x 11" rectangle about 1/8" thick; transfer the dough rectangle to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. With a pizza wheel, fluted pastry wheel, or paring knife, trim the long sides of the rectangle to make them straight, then cut the rectangle lengthwise into 8 strips 15" long by 1 1/4" wide. Freeze the strips on the baking sheet until firm, about 30 minutes.

Following the illustrations on page 884, roll the smaller piece of dough on a lightly floured work surface or between 2 large sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap to a 12" circle. Transfer the dough to a 9" pie plate by rolling the dough arounda rolling pin and unrolling it over the pan. Working around the circumference of the pan, ease the dough into the pan corners by gently lifting the edge of the dough with one hand while pressinag it into the pan bottom with the other hand. leave the dough that overhangs the lip of the pie plate in place; refrigerate the dough-line pie plate.

Remove the dough strips from the freezer; if theya re too stiff to e workable, let them stand at room temperature until malleable and softened slightly but still very cold. Form the lattice top and place in the freezer until firm, about 15 minutes.

Adjust an oven rack to the lowest position, place a rimmed baking sheet on it, and heat the oven to 500 degrees. Bring 3 quarts water to a boil in a large saucepan and fill a large bowl with 2 quarts cold water and 2 trays ice cubes. Score an X in the bottom of each peach and simmer in the boiling water 30-60 seconds, depending on the peaches' ripeness. Transfer peaches to ice water and let stand about 1 minute to stop the cooking process. Starting from the X, peel the peach, using a paring knife to lift the skin off in strips. [I skipped this step, peeling my peaches with a vegetable peeling. I'll probably try this next time, as my way took forever.] Halve and pit each peeled peach and cut into 3/8" slices.

Toss the peach slices, lemon juice, 1 C sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and potato starch into a medium bowl.

Turn the peach mixture into the dough-lined pie plate. Remove the lattice from the freezer and place on top of the filled pie. Trim the lattice strips and crimp the pie edges. Lightly brush or spray the lattice top with 1 TB water and sprinkle with the remaining 1 TB sugar.

Lower the oven temperature to 425 F. Place the pie on the baking sheet and bake until the crust is set and begins to brown, 25-30 minutes. Rotate the pie and reduce the oven temperature to 375 F. Continue baking until the crust is deep golden brown and the juices bubble, 25-30 minutes longer. Cool the pie on a wire rack at least 2 hours before serving.

basic pie dough, lattice-top variation (New Best Recipes)

3 C flour (15 oz)

1 tsp salt

2 TB sugar

7 TB vegetable shortening, chilled [I used butter-flavored]

10 TB cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4" pieces

10 TB ice water

Process the flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor until combined. Add the shortening and process until the mixture has the texture of coarse sand, about 10 seconds. Scatter the butter pieces over the flour mixture; cut the butter into the flour until the mixture is pale yellow and resembles coarse crumbs, with butter bits no larger than small peas, about ten 1-second pulses. Turn the mixture into a medium bowl.

Sprinkle the ice water oer the mixture. With a rubber spatula, use a folding motion to mix. Press down on the dough with the broad side of the spatula until the dough sticks together. Divide the dough into 2 balls and flatten each into a 4" disk. Wrap in palstic and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 2 days before rolling.

key lime cupcakes

2009-10-22T17:08:00.000-07:00

My family and I have quite the sweet tooth (teeth?), so when we get together, someone frequently ends up baking dessert. One brother does pies, another has taken over Dad's fudge recipe, though Dad occasionally makes it himself, with mini-M&Ms thrown in while it's still hot. My mom and my sisters and I do the brownies, cookies, and cakes.

However, thus far, only the pie brother is willing to spend the hours baking that result in the kinds of desserts that I love. (We once created a rose cake together that will live forever in infamy. Improvisation in the kitchen, admittedly, has not been my strong point.) So when I bake with my sisters, I try to find simpler recipes that we can make together, so I can slowly convince them of the superiority of from-scratch recipes that don't require half a day to make.

So last time we were all craving dessert, I suggested we try these. We made my favorite yellow cupcake recipe (from New Best Recipes)--quick and no fail. And then we mixed up a batch of key lime pie filling and threw it into the cupcakes. Easy and delicious. You don't even need frosting. B thought they were too sticky and continues to disparage them, but my family and I loved them. If you find them too sticky as well, you could up the liminess of the cupcakes by using more zest and decrease the filling. Or you could use the cone method to fill the cupcakes after baking, if you don't mind raw eggs.

key lime cupcakes
yellow cupcakes: (modified from The New Best Recipes, editors of Cook's Illustrated)
1.5 C unbleached all-purpose flour
1 C sugar
1.5 tsp baking powder
.5 tsp salt
8 TB unsalted butter, softened
.5 C sour cream
1 large egg, plus 2 yolks, at room temperature
2 TB key lime juice
grated lime zest

key lime filling (from epicurious.com):
14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks
.5 C + 2 TB key lime juice

Preheat oven to 350. Grease muffin tins and line with muffin cups.

Mix dry ingredients. Add butter, sour cream, egg, yolks, lime juice, and zest, and beat until smooth and satiny, about 30 seconds. Scrape sides of bowl with rubber spatula and stir by hand until smooth and no flour pockets remain.

Whisk together sweetened condensed milk and egg yolks until combined well. Add lime juice and whisk until combined well.

Divide half of cupcake batter amount muffin tins. Add a generous helping of key lime filling to each tin, and cover with more cupcake batter. Bake as appropriate for size of cupcakes. (You may need to bake slightly longer because of filling.)

dinner & dessert: goat cheese and thyme-stuffed chicken breasts with bacon-shallot-sherry vinegar peas and herbed rice, and praline bread pudding

2009-09-29T10:21:00.000-07:00

In an effort to improve our cooking skills, a friend and I have started cooking dinner and dessert together once a week. This was our first meal. The stuffed chicken breasts were very pretty, but it turns out that I don't like goat cheese (except served with cranberries as a spread for crackers), so I didn't care for the chicken. The peas, however, were delicious. The rice is my husband's grandfather's recipe, and like all the recipes he has come up with, it is wonderful. The bread pudding is simply the best bread pudding I've ever eaten. I recommend making extra sauce.

breaded stuffed chicken breasts (The Best Chicken Recipes, editors of Cook's Illustrated)
4 (5-6 oz) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed with tenderloins removed
salt and ground black pepper
goat cheese and thyme filling
2 C panko
.5 C flour
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp Dijon mustard

1. Adjust a rack in the oven to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 300 F.

2. Butterfly each chicken breast and pound between two sheets of plastic wrap to .25" thick, with edges .125" thick.

3. Place stuffing near tapered end of breasts. Roll each chicken breast over filling to form a neat, tight package (roll up the end to completely enclose the stuffing, and then fold in the sides and continue rolling to form a cylinder), pressing on the seam to seal. Refrigerate, seam-side down and uncovered to allow edges to seal further, about 1 hour.

4. Toss panko with salt and pepper and spread over a rimmed baking sheet. Bake, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and dry, about 25 minutes. Transfer to a shallow dish and cool to room temperature. Increase oven temperature to 350 F.

5. Combine flour, .25 tsp salt, and .125 tsp pepper in a second shallow dish and whisk eggs and Dijon together in a third shallow dish. Working with one chicken roll at a time, dredge in the flour, shaking off the excess, then coat with the egg mixture, allowing the excess to drip off. Finally, coat with bread crumbs, pressing gently so that crumbs adhere. (Up to this point, the chicken can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 24 hours. Increase the baking time by 5 to 10 minutes.)

6. Place the chicken rolls at least 1 inch apart on a wire rack set over a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Bake until the center of the chicken registers 160 to 165 F on an instant-read thermometer, 35 to 40 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

goat cheese and thyme filling (The Best Chicken Recipes, editors of Cook's Illustrated)
1 TB unsalted butter
1 small onion, minced
2 tsp minced fresh thyme leaves
1 small garlic clove, minced or pressed (about .5 tsp.)
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 oz. goat cheese, softened
.125 tsp salt
.125 tsp ground black pepper

1. Melt butter in medium skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until well browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in the thyme and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds; set aside to cool.

2. Mix the cooled onion mixture, cream cheese, goat cheese, salt, and pepper together until uniform. Spoon the cheese mixture onto the chicken.

peas with bacon, shallot, and sherry vinegar (The Best Chicken Recipes, editors of Cook's Illustrated)
6 oz. bacon, chopped
1 shallot, minced
1 medium garlic clove, minced or pressed (about 1 tsp.)
2 tsp. sugar
1 pound frozen peas (do not thaw)
1 tsp minced fresh thyme leaves
salt and ground black pepper

Fry bacon in nonstick skillet until crisp, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towel-lined plate and pour off all but 2 TB of the fat. Add the shallot, garlic, and sugar; cook until softened, about 2 min. Stir in the peas and cook, stirring often, until just heated through, about 2 min. Off the heat, add 2 tsp. sherry vinegar, as well as the bacon and thyme, to the pan.

Jack's herbed rice
6 tbsp butter
2 small onions, chopped
2 cups white rice
2/3 tsp marjoram
2/3 tsp summer savory
1 1/3 tsp rosemary
1 tsp salt
4 chicken bouillon cubes
4 cups water

Melt butter in pan. Saute onions and rice until lightly browned. Add seasonings and water. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 25 min. on low-medium. Cool for ten minutes on warm.

praline bread pudding (Restaurant Favorites at Home, editors of Cook's Illustrated)
pudding
12 oz. good-quality French baguette, cut into 1.5" cubes
2 C pecans
6 TB unsalted butter, cut into .5" pieces, plus more for greasing the pan
12 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
3 TB vanilla
2 TB hazelnut liqueur, such as Frangelico (I used Kahlua)
1.5 C sugar
6 C heavy cream

sauce
4 large egg yolks
.5 C sugar
.25 C hazelnut liqueur
8 TB unsalted butter

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat to 250 F. Spread bread cubes in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until dry, 30 to 40 min. Remove from oven, transfer to large plate, and cool to room temperature. Increase oven temperature to 350 F. Spread nuts on empty baking sheet and toast, shaking the pan once to turn the nuts, until fragrant, 5 to 8 min. Set aside and turn off the oven.

2. Grease 13 x 9" baking dish with butter. Spread dried bread cubes evenly in baking dish. Whisk the eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, hazelnut liqueur, and sugar together in a large bowl. Whisk in the cream. Pour three quarters of the custard over the bread and sprinkle the toasted pecans over the top. Using a rubber spatula, press the bread into the custard. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the liquid is absorbed, about 20 min. Pour remaining custard evenly over the top, replace plastic wrap, and refrigerate until most of the liquid is absorbed, about 1 hour.

3. Return the oven temperature to 350 F. Remove plastic wrap and dot the top of the pudding evenly with the remaining 6 TB butter. Bake until the top is a deep golden brown, the center is slightly puffed, and the custard begins to climb up the sides of the baking dish, 50 to 60 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool until set, about 20 min.

4. For the sauce: While the pudding is cooling, place the egg yolks in a medium bowl. heat the sugar and hazelnut liqueur in another medium bowl over a medium saucepan of simmering water, whisking constantly, until the sugar is dissolved, about 5 min. Slowly stir the warm liqueur mixture into the egg yolks. Place the bowl of yolk mixture over the simmering water and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture is fluffy, pale yellow, and the whisk leaves distinct trails, about 2 min.

5. Melt the butter. Slowly drizzle the hot melted butter into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly, until all of the butter is incorporated and the sauce is thick and creamy.

6. To serve: Cut the pudding into 12 squares. Transfer to plates and top with 2 TB of the hot hazelnut sauce each. Serve immediately.

minestrone

2009-09-14T20:40:00.000-07:00

I love minestrone. It has a nice, rich flavor, and it always feels like a healthy thing to eat. Whenever I've had too much junk and need some vegetables, I find myself craving minestrone.

I've made some rather fantastic failures in trying to get a good minestrone. Undercooked cabbage, flavorless broth. And then I got a copy of The Best Italian Classics, which has you cook a parmesan rind in the broth and finish it with pesto. And that made all the difference. This is a great soup.

Because I'm utterly incapable of cooking a meal for two people, I can't take seriously directions that include 3/4 C carrots to make soup for six to eight people. I always add a little more of this and a little more of that until suddenly I have a cauldron of food for forty. So be warned--my directions below make a ridiculous amount of soup.

minestrone (adapted from The Best Italian Classics, editors of Cooks Illustrated)

1 small green cabbage, chopped small

2-2.5 lbs baby carrots, chopped

2 lbs green beans, chopped

3 cans stewed tomatoes

6 cans cannellini beans

2 onions, chopped

half bundle of celery, chopped

2 medium zucchinis, chopped

2 bundles spinach leaves, stemmed and cut into strips

24 C water, more as needed

1 wedge parmesan, plus any extra rind available

2 C rice

1 small jar pesto

salt and pepper

Bring water and cheese rind to a boil in a very large pot. Add vegetables and cook till tender. (Because I never prepare mise en place, I heat the water and then just start chopping things and throwing them in, beginning with the vegetables that need to cook longest, such as cabbage and carrots.) Twenty minutes before finishing, add rice. (Wild rice should be added sooner; check directions on the package.) Five minutes before finishing, add beans. Remove pot from heat. Add pesto. Stir in salt and pepper to taste.

chicken breasts with duxelles stuffing and supreme sauce

2009-09-04T12:23:00.000-07:00

A while ago, when I was feeling ambitious, I sat down with B and a stack of my cookbooks to make a list of dinner recipes to try. I've never been much of a cook when it comes to dinner. Dinner, unlike dessert, is something I don't crave. So it never occurs to me to cook it until I'm starving and then I don't feel like waiting. So I usually just eat cereal or a sandwich. Given the dearth of dinner posts here in the last several months, you can see how long my cooking resolution lasted. Anyway, this is the one thing on the list that I did make.

This was probably the most complicated dinner I've ever made, what with the packet of spices and the mirepoix and sauce and the stuffing. The mirepoix was the first I'd made, which was fun, even though it wasn't very appetizing. I cheated and used bouillion for the chicken broth. I also used a bag of those microwave steamed vegetables.

The recipe was easy enough to follow; it just took forever on account of chopping and slicing a million tons of mushrooms. The only trouble I ran into was that, being tired after the mushrooms, I neglected to pound my chicken (breasts rather than supremes), so I had to finish my chicken in the oven after frying it. I won't skip that step next time. There's nothing as disheartening as spending four hours in the kitchen to produce a meal and then taking a bite and realizing it's still basically raw.

I hate mushrooms, so I made this one entirely for B's benefit. By the time I was done, I hated mushrooms even more. The kitchen stank of mushrooms, and they ruined the sauce for me. But B enjoyed the meal, so I suppose it counts as a success.

breast of chicken with duxelles stuffing and supreme sauce (The Professional Chef, 8th ed., Culinary Institute of America)
10 (7-8 oz) chicken supremes
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 lb duxelles stuffing
5 oz all-purpose flour, or as needed
6 fl oz. egg wash, or as needed
12 oz bread crumbs, or as needed
24 oz clarified butter or oil, or as needed
20 fl oz supreme sauce

1-Trim the chicken supremes and remove the skin, if desired. Butterfly each breast portion and pound between sheets of parchment or plastic wrap to even thickness.

2-At the time of service or up to 3 hours in advance, blot dry the chicken and season with salt and pepper. Fill each breast with a portion of the duxelles stuffing and roll the breast around the stuffing. Overlap the edges to form a seam.

3-Apply a standard breading: Dredge the chicken in flour, dip in egg wash, and roll in abread crumbs. (Refrigerate seam side down if breaded in advance.)

4-Heat .5" of the butter or oil to about 350 F over medium heat. Add the chicken to the hot oil seam side down first and pan fry for 2-3 min, or until golden brown and crisp. Turn once, and finish apan frying on the second side, 3 minutes more or until it reaches an internal temperature of 170 F. (Finish cooking in a 350 F oven once the ccrust is properly browned, if preferred.)

5-Blot the chicken on absorbent paper towels briefly before serving with the heated supreme sauce.

supreme sauce
2 oz clarified butter or vegetable oil
8 oz small-dice white mirepoix
12 oz blond roux
1 gal chicken stock
1 sachet d'epices
salt, as needed
ground white pepper, as needed
32 oz heavy cream
2 lb sliced mushrooms

Heat the butter or oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the mirepoix and stock, stirringa occasionally, until onions are limp and have begun to release their juices, about 15 min. They may take on a light golden color but should not be allowed to brown.

Add the roux to the mirepoix and cook until the roux is very hot, about 2 mi.

Add the stock to the pan gradually, stirring or whisking to work out any lumps. Bring to a full boil, then lower the heat to establish a simmer. (Use a heat diffuser, if desired, to avoid scorching.) Add the sachet and continue to simmer, skimming as necessary, until a good flavor and consistency develop and the starchy feel and taste of the flour have cooked away, 45 min. to 1 hr.

Strain the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve. Strain a second time through a double thickness of rinsed cheesecloth, if desired, for the finest texture.

Return the sauce to a simmer. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Add cream and mushrooms. Simmer, stirring and skimming the surface frequently, until it coats the back of a spoon. If desired, the sauce may be finished with 6 oz butter.

white mirepoix
2 parts onion or the white of leeks
1 part celery root or hearts
1 part parsnips

blond roux
3 parts flour
2 parts fat

Heat fat over medium heat and add the flour, stirring to combine. Cook to a golden straw color with a nutty aroma.

duxelles stuffing
6 oz minced shallots
2 oz butter
2 alb small-dice mushrooms
1 TB salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
8 fl oz heavy cream, reduced
8 oz fresh bread crumbs
1 TB achopped parsley
2 oz abutter, melted
20 fl oz supreme sauce

Sweat the shallots in the butter over medium-high heat until translucent, 2-3 min. Add the mushrooms and saute them until dry to create a duxelles. Season the duxelles with some of the salt and pepper.

Add the cream, bread crumbs, and parsley and mix well. If desired, the duxelles can be chilled and reserved for later use.

Dorie Greenspan's molasses spice cookies

2009-08-28T15:37:00.001-07:00

When it comes to cookies, I am a chocolate fan, almost to the exclusion of everything else. And so are my mom and most of my siblings. My dad likes snickerdoodles, so we make them for him once or twice a year. B likes oatmeal cookies, pumpkin cookies, and inferior versions of snickerdoodles. I like none of these, so he has to buy his cookies from the store. If left to myself, I would never have tried these cookies. If left to myself, I'll never make them again, either. I just don't love spice cookies. But my sisters and I were baking and my sister wanted to try these, so we did.

Because I wasn't precise in following Dorie's directions, mine came out chewy. Fine with me, as all of us who ate them prefer chewy cookies to crispy. In fact, the texture was the major draw of these cookies for B and me. The level of spice and the flavor of the molasses were nice. My dad, who had wrinkled his nose at the idea of pepper in cookies, ended up liking them a lot. As spice cookies go, these are good. But me, I'm sticking with chocolate.

Molasses Spice Cookies (from Baking, Dorie Greenspan)
2.5 C flour
2 tsp baking soda
.5 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
.5 tsp ground cinnamon
.25 tsp ground allspice
pinch cracked or coarsely ground black pepper
16 TB unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 C (packed) light brown sugar
.5 C molasses (not blackstrap)
1 large egg

about .33 C sugar, for rolling

Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and pepper.

With a mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Add brown sugar and molaasses and beat for app. 2 min. to blend. Add egg and beat for 1 min. more. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients, mixing until flour and spices disappear. If some flour remains on bottom of bowl, to avoid overbeating, mix by hand with a rubber spatula. Dough will be smooth and very soft. Divide dough in half and wrap each piece in plastic wrap. Freeze for 30 min. or refrigerate for at least 1 hour (or up to 4 days).

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats. Put the sugar in a small bowl. Working with one packet of dough at a time, divide it into 12 pieces and roll each piece into a smooth ball between your palms. One by one, roll the balls around in the bowl of sugar, then place them on the baking sheets. dip the bottom of a glass into the sugar and use it to press down on the cookies until they are between .25 and .5" thick.

Bake one sheet at a time for 12 to 14 minutes, or until the tops feel set to the touch. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and, iaf the cookies have spread anda re touching, use the edge of a spatula to separate them while they are still hot. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to room temperature.

Repeat with the second batch of dough.

rhubarb big crumb coffee cake

2009-08-25T16:32:00.000-07:00

I saw this recipe in the Times a couple of years ago and have been meaning to try it ever since, as B and I both love coffee cake.

This was a hit--quick, easy, and delicious. B even liked it despite his hatred of ginger. Unfortunately, I was having bad problems with heartburn when I made this, and between the rhubarb and the rich crumb topping, I wasn't able to eat more than a slice. But I will be making it again.

Rhubarb Big Crumb Coffee Cake (from the New York Times)

Rhubarb filling

1/2 pound rhubarb, trimmed
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Crumbs

1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup melted butter
1 3/4 cups cake flour

Coffee cake

1/3 cup sour cream
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup cake flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons softened butter, cut into 8 pieces

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8-inch-square baking pan. For filling, slice rhubarb 1/2 inch thick and toss with sugar, cornstarch and ginger. Set aside.

2. To make crumbs, in a large bowl, whisk together sugars, spices, salt and butter until smooth. Stir in flour with a spatula. It will look like a solid dough.

3. To prepare cake, in a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add butter and a spoonful of sour cream mixture and mix on medium speed until flour is moistened. Increase speed and beat for 30 seconds. Add remaining sour cream mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition, and scraping down the sides of bowl with a spatula. Scoop out about 1/2 cup batter and set aside.

4. Scrape remaining batter into prepared pan. Spoon rhubarb over batter. Dollop set-aside batter over rhubarb; it does not have to be even.

5. Using your fingers, break topping mixture into big crumbs, about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in size. Sprinkle over cake. Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean of batter (it might be moist from rhubarb), 45 to 55 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

NYT chocolate chip cookies

2009-06-16T15:05:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, I finally got around to making the NYT chocolate chip cookies. These cookies were the ultimate test of will power--waiting thirty-six hours to bake them? That is way too long. But I managed to hold out until thirty-four, and the results were fantastic. I didn't roll mine in salt before baking because the dough tasted salty enough to me. I did put the dough back in the fridge between rolling each batch to keep the butter as cool as possible. And I was glad that I spent the extra money to use the chocolate disks (I used Guittard). These cookies were delicious, and I will totally make them again . . . as soon as I can stand to wait another day and a half to satisfy a cookie craving.

chocolate fudge cake with chocolate buttercream and peanut butter mousse

2009-05-15T13:13:00.001-07:00

I made this cake for my brother's birthday. This was the first time I'd tried any of Beranbaum's recipes. The chocolate cake was every bit as good as she'd promised. I don't usually care for buttercreams but decided to try the milk chocolate buttercream she recommends to go with the chocolate fudge cake. Unfortunately, I still didn't like it, and it didn't go well with Cafe Johnsonia's tasty peanut butter mousse. I filled the cake with the buttercream and mousse, used some buttercream for a crumb coat, and covered the whole thing in faux buttercream.

I have to say, this is by far the ugliest cake I've ever made. It was fun to put together, though, and I learned some interesting things for next time. (For instance, I didn't know that the frosting color would continue to darken with exposure to air. By the time I got the cake to my brother, it was much darker than in these pictures.)

naked seal

crumb coat

chocolate fudge cake (from The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum)
3 oz. unsweetened cocoa (Dutch-processed) (3/4 C + 3 TB) or 1 C nonalkalized cocoa (e.g. Hershey's)
12.5 oz boiling water (1.5 C)
3 large eggs
1.5 tsp vanilla
10.5 oz sifted cake flour (3 C)
15.25 oz light brown sugar (2 C, firmly packed)
2.25 tsp baking powder (if using nonalkalized cocoa, eliminate baking powder and use 1.25 tsp baking soda)
.75 tsp baking soda
.75 tsp salt
8 oz unsalted butter (1 C)

Preheat the oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the cocoa and boiling water until smooth. Cool to room temperature.

In another bowl, lightly combine the eggs, 1/4 of the cocoa mixture, and vanilla.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients and mix on low speed for 30 seconds. Add the butter and remaining cocoa mixture. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed (high speed if using a hand mixer) and beat for 1.5 minutes to aerate and develop the cake's structure. Gradually add the egg mixture in three batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the structure. Scrape down the sides.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pans and smooth the surface with a spatula. The pans will be about 1/2 full. Bake 20-30 minutes or until a tester inserted near the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in the center. The cakes should start to shrink from the sides of the pans only after removal from the oven.

Let the cakes cool in the pans on racks for 0 minutes. Loosen the sides with a small metal spatula and invert onto greased wire racks. To prevent splitting, reinvert so that tops are up and cool cfompletely before wrapping airtight.

Grease two 9 x 1.5" cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment or wax paper, and then regrease and flour. (If you only have 2"-high pans, either do 2/3 the recipe for 1 layer or 1 1/3 the recipe for 2 layers.)

milk chocolate buttercream (from The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum)
1 lb milk chocolate
8 oz dark chocolate
12 oz unsalted butter (softened)

Break the chocolate into squares and place in the top of a double boiler. Set over hot but not simmering water on low heat. The water must not touch the bottom of the double boiler insert. Remove the double boiler from the heat and sitr until the chocolate begins to melt. Return to the heat if the water cools, but be careful that it does not get too hot. Stir until smooth, and cool until no longer warm to the touch. (The chocolate may be melted in a microwave oven if stirred every 15 seconds. Remove before fully melted and stir, using residual heat to complete the melting.)

In a bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixture at medium speed and beat in the cooled chocolate until uniform in color.

peanut butter mousse (from Cafe Johnsonia)
2 cups peanut butter (not natural)
8 oz. cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup heavy cream, chilled

Using an electric mixer, beat the peanut butter and cream cheese. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat until combined.

Beat the cream to soft peaks; fold into the peanut butter in two additions.

ganache-filled raspberries

2009-02-09T18:54:00.000-08:00

I made these for fun a few months ago, when I was giving a chocolate dipping demonstration. (I'm not sure how I ended up doing that when my chocolate tempering skills are still more miss than hit, but it was a lot of fun.) They take way too long, but they're really cute. Just make your favorite ganace recipe and pipe it into a bunch of raspberries. (You're not supposed to wash raspberries, I think, but I just had to. Getting the water back out of them was a hassle.)

bittersweet ganache

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate

1 C heavy cream

Break the chocolate into pieces. Bring the cream to a boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and whisk until smooth. When ganache has cooled but is still pipeable, fill the raspberries.

quiche florentine

2008-10-31T12:31:00.000-07:00

After reading the French Laundry at Home blog (if you haven't read it, you must), I knew I had to have Thomas Keller's books. They were exactly what I'd been hoping to find--books that would tell me in great detail how to make restaurant-quality food at home. And not, you konw, Chili's-quality food. But why-can't-I-get-a-reservation-there-quality food. And when I picked up a copy of French Laundry and read, "French Laundry chefs will pass a sauce through a chinois twenty times or more. . . . We pass our pea puree for the pea soup through a tamis, then we blend the puree in a blender and pass it through a chinois. The result is texture on your tongue and palate that is almost indescribable. It is the texture of luxury," I was in love.

I decided to start my Keller experience with simple dishes. First, I tried the glazed vegetables. Then I made this quiche. This quiche florentine is simply the best quiche I've ever eaten. The custard was smooth and silky and rich. I loved it. I did run into some minor hangups--I misplaced part of my dough for the crust, and so didn't have enough to drape it over the edge. And as Keller warns, it did in fact shrink. It was rather misshapen, and my custard made it soggy. It was delicious, all the same. (And of course, this would be the one dish I forgot to take a picture of.)

quiche florentine (from Bouchon, Thomas Keller)
2 TB unsalted butter
.25 C minced shallots
1 lb spinach, washed, large stems removed
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
.75 C grated Comte or Emmentaler cheese
basic quiche shell, cooled
basic quiche batter
Canola oil

Melt the butter in a large pot or saute pan over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook gently for about 2 minutes, until they have softened but not colored. Add half the spinach, 1 tsp of the salt, and 1/2 tsp of the pepper. (To season the spinach evenly, it is best to sprinkled the leaves with salt and pepper before they wilt.) Stir for a minute to wilt, then add the remaining spinach, 1 tsp of salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper. Cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring until all the spinach has wilted. Drain the spinach on paper towels and let cool.

Put a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325 F.

Squeeze the cooled spinach to remove excess liquid and chop coarsely to make cutting the quich easier. Scatter .25 C of the cheese and half the spinach evenly into the cooled quich shell (still on the baking sheet). Blend the quiche batter again to aerate it, then pour in enough of the batter to cover the ingredients and fill the quiche approximately halfway. Top the batter with another .25 C of the cheese and the remaining spinach. Blend the remaining batter and fill the quiche all the way to the top. Sprinkle the remaining .25 C cheese on top of the quiche. (If you don't have a very steady hand, you might spill some of the batter on the way to the oven; fill the quiche most of the way, then pour the final amount of batter on top once the quiche is on the oven rack. Then top it with the remaining cheese.)

Bake for 1.5 to 1.75 hours, or until the top of the quiche is browned and the custard is set when the pan is jiggled. Remove the quiche from the oven and let cool on a rack to room temperature. Refrierate until thoroughly chilled, at least 1 day, or up to 3 days.

Once the quiche is thoroughly chilled, using a metal bench scraper or a sharp knife, scrape away the excess crust from the top. Tilt tthe ring on its side, with the bottom of the quiche facing you, and run a small paring knife between the crust and the ring to release the quiche. Set the quiche down and carefully lift off the ring. Return to the refrigerator until ready to serve.

To serve: Preheat the oven to 375 F. Linea baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly oil the paper.

Using a long serrated knife and supporting the sides of the crust, carefully cut through the edge of the crust in a sawing motion. Switch to a long slicing knive and cut through the custard and bottom crust. Repeat, cutting the quiche into 8 pieces. Place the pieces on the baking sheet and reheat for 15 minutes, or until hot throughout. To check, insert a metal skewer into the quiche for several seconds and then touch the skewer to your lip to test the temperature of the quiche.

shell
2 C flour, sifted, plus flour for rolling
1 tsp kosher salt
8 oz. chilled unsalted buttter, cut into 1/4" pieces
1/4 C ice water
canola oil

Place 1 C of the flour and the salt in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Turn to low speed and add the butter a small handful at a time. When all butter is added, increase speed to medium and mix until butter is completely blended with flour. Reduce speed, add remaining flour, and mix just to combine. Add water and mix until incorporated. The dough will come around the paddle and should feel smooth, not sticky, to the touch.

Remove the dough from the mixer and check to be certain there are no visible pieces of butter remaining; if necessary, return to the mixer and mix briefly again. Pat into a 7- to 8-inch disk and wrap in plastic wrap. REfrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to a day. (If the dough does not rest, it will shrink as it bakes.)

Lightly brush the inside of a 9 x 2" ring mold with canola oil and place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Place the dough on a floured work surface and rub on all sides with flour. Flatten into a larger circle using a rolling pin or the heel of your hand. Roll the rolling pin back and forth across the dough a few times, then turn it 90 degrees and roll again. Continue to turn and roll until the dough is 3/16" thick and about 14" in diameter. (If the kitchen is hot and the dough has become very soft, move it to the baking sheet and refrigerate for a few minutes.)

To lift the dough into the ring, place the rolling pin across the dough about one-quarter of the way up from the bottom edge, fold the bottom edge of dough up and over the pin, and roll the dough up on the rolling pin. Lift the dough on the pin, hold it over the top edge of the ring and unroll the dough over the mold, centering it. Carefully lower the dough into the ring, pressing it gently against the sides and into the bottom corners of the ring. Trim any dough that extends more than an inch over the sides of teh mold and reserve the scraps. Fold the excess dough over against the outside of the ring. (Preparing the quiche shell this way will prevent it from shrinking down the sides as it bakes. The excess dough will be removed after the quich is baked.) Carefully check for any cracks or holes in the dough, and patch with the reserved dough as necessary. Place in the refrigerator or freezer for at least 20 mnutes to resolidify the butter. Reserve the remaining dough scraps.

Put a rack set in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 F.

Line the quiche shell with a 16-inch round of parchment. Fill the shell with pie weights or dried beans, gently guiding the weights into the corners of the shell and filling the shell completely. Bake the shell for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the edges of the dough are lightly browned but the bottom is still light in color.

Carefully remove the parchment and weights. Check the dough for any new cracks or holes and patch with the thin pieces of the reserved dough if necessary. Return the shell to the oven for another 15 to 20 minutes, or until the bottom is a rich golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow the shell to cool copmletely on the baking sheet. Once again, check the dough for any cracks or holes, and patch if necessary before filling with the quiche batter.

basic quiche batter

2 C milk
2 C heavy cream
6 large eggs
1 TB kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly fround white pepper
6 gratings fresh nutmeg

Combine the milk and cream in a large saucepan and heat over medium heat until scalded (meaning a skin begins to form on the surface). remove from the heat and let cool for 15 minutes before continuing.

Put 3 eggs, half the milk and cream mixture, 1.5 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp white pepper, and 3 gratings of nutmeg in a blender and blend on low speed for a few seconds to combine the ingredeints. Increase the speed to high and blend for 30 seconds to a minute, or until the batter is light and foamy.

This is the first layer of the quiche. Once you have assembled it, add the remaining ingredients to the blender and repeat the process to complete the quiche.

corn chowder

2008-10-25T15:20:00.000-07:00

B asked me to make corn chowder, and, as usual, I was leery of trying it. (I was a very picky eater as a child, and my default position on anything but dessert is to assume I'll hate it.) But I found a recipe in The Professional Chef and gave it a shot, and I really enjoyed it. Enough that I made a second batch, and doubled it.

The original recipe calls for salt pork, but I didn't know where to find any, so I used bacon. (The amount of corn makes in the soup makes it quite sweet, so I enjoyed the balance the smokiness of the bacon gave it.) I omitted the celery because I hate celery and the Tabasco sauce because we didn't have any.

corn chowder (adapted from The Professional Chef, The Culinary Institute of America)

4 oz bacon
2 oz butter
6 oz small-dice onions
4 oz small-dice green peppers
4 oz small-dice red peppers
3.5 oz all-purpose flour
64 fl oz chicken stock
2 lb corn kernels, fresh or frozen
2 lb potatoes, small dice
1 bay leaf
8 fl oz heavy cream, hot
8 fl oz milk, hot
salt, as needed
ground white pepper, as needed
2 tsp Tabasco sauce
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1. In a large pot, melt butter. Add bacon and cook until crisp.
2. Add onions and peppers and sweat until softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the flour and cook to make a white roux, about 3 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and add 1/3 of stock. Stir until combined. Return to medium heat and continue stirring to work out lumps. Repeat with remaining stock. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring periodically to avoid scorching, until thickened, 30-40 minutes.
5. Puree half of the corn and add to the soup with the potatoes. Add the remaining corn and bay leaf and simmer, covered, until corn and potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
6. Add the cream and milk to the soup, and stir to combine. Heat just until soup begins to simmer, about 10 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaf. Finish soup or rapidly cool and refrigerate for later service.
7. To finish for service, return soup to a boil. Season with salt, pepper, Tabasco, and Worcestershire sauce and serve in heated bowls or cups.

deviled eggs

2008-10-25T15:00:00.000-07:00

I never liked deviled eggs until one of my friends brought them to a party, still warm. They weren't rubbery at all, and they tasted great. I asked him his secret--it was something to do with the cooking--at then promptly forgot it.

Recently, though, B pulled out New Best Recipe to make himself some hardboiled eggs. And there was the same secret cooking method--bringing them just to a boil, turning off the heat, and allowing them to sit for ten minutes before putting them in cold water to stop the cooking.

B's eggs turned out so well that I decided to devil them, again using NBR. They were delicious, and we ate the entire batch by the end of the night.

deviled eggs (New Best Recipe, Editors of Cook's Illustrated)

7 large eggs
.75 tsp whole-grain mustard
3 TB mayonnaise
1.5 tsp cider vinegar (or vinegar of your choice)
.25 tsp Worcestershire sauce
salt and ground black pepper

1. Place eggs in medium saucepan, cover with one inch of water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove the pan from heat, cover, and let stand 10 minutes. Fill a medium bowl with 1 qt cold water and 1 tray ice cubes. Transfer eggs to ice water with a slotted spoon; let sit 5 minutes.
2. Peel the eggs and slice each in half lengthwise with a paring knife. Remove the yolks to a small bowl. Arrange the whites on a serving platter, discarding the two worst-looking halves. Mash the yolks with a fork until no large lumps remain. Add the mustard, mayo, vinegar, Worcestershire, and salt and pepper to taste; mix with a rubber spatula, mashing against the side of a bowl until smooth.

3. Fit a pastry bag with a large open-star tip. Fill the bag with the yolk mixture, twisting the top of the pastry bag to help push the mixture toward the tip of the bag. Pipe the yolk mixture into the egg white halves, mounding the filling about .5 inch above the flat surface of the whites. [I didn't mash mine smoothly enough and my star tip was a little on the small side, so I got tired of unclogging it and just spooned in the filling.] Serve immediately.

strawberries & cream cupcakes

2008-10-13T20:55:00.000-07:00

These are currently my favorite cupcakes. We had some extra strawberries, so I made yellow cupcakes, filled them with a tart strawberry jam, and topped them with a lightly sweetened cream cheese frosting. They're unbelievably good.

They're cute frosted, but I prefer to just cut the cupcakes in half and slather frosting and jam on each half.

strawberries & cream cupcakes:

yellow cupcakes (The New Best Recipes, editors of Cook's Illustrated)
1.5 C unbleached all-purpose flour
1 C sugar
1.5 tsp baking powder
.5 tsp salt
8 TB unsalted butter, softened
.5 C sour cream
1 large egg, plus 2 yolks, at room temperature
1.5 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 2 mini muffin tins and line with muffin cups. Mix dry ingredients. Add butter, sour cream, egg, yolks, and vanilla, and beat until smooth and satiny, about 30 seconds. Scrape sides of bowl with rubber spatula and stir by hand until smooth and no flour pockets remain.Divide among mini muffin cups. Bake until cupcake tops are pale gold and cupcakes pass toothpick test.

strawberry jam
1 C strawberry puree
.25 C sugar
1 TB pectin

Heat the strawberries, sugar, and pectin on medium until the mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat. Allow to cool before using.

cream cheese frosting
16 oz cream cheese
.5 C butter
2 C powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla

beets and potatoes

2008-10-13T20:48:00.000-07:00

This was an attempt to replicate the flavor of an Ethiopian dish that B and I love--beets with some potatoes mixed in. I haven't figured out yet what is missing from my version, but regular old beets and potatoes boiled with some salt and butter are still good.

beets & potatoes
10 small red potatoes
4-5 medium beets
2-3 TB beet water
1 TB butter
salt to taste

Boil the beets and potatoes (in separate pans) until tender. Chop and mix with salt and butter. Add water from the beets for a little extra color.

churros

2008-10-09T16:26:00.001-07:00

My sister needed to make a Spanish dish for a class project, so we made these together. I'm a little distrustful of random Internet recipes. The pictures look so good, but something goes missing in the transcription. This one, though, is a winner. It's quick, easy, and delicious. The churros are perfect--crispy outsides and creamy, custard insides. And they're adorable. Despite making a quadruple batch, we ran out of churros within minutes of frying the last plateful.

churros (from Dean Derhak's Real Spanish Food Recipes)

vegetable oil for frying, heated to 360 F
1 C water
.5 C butter
.25 tsp. salt
1 C flour
3 eggs, whisked until thoroughly mixed
.25 C sugar
.25 tsp. cinammon

1. Put water, butter, and salt in a pot and bring to a rolling boil.
2. Add flour, put heat on low, and stir until combined in sticky ball.
3. Whisk eggs into flour mixture until smooth.
4. Place in pastry bag with large star tip.
5. Pipe 4-6 churros (or as many as your pan can hold) into the hot oil.
6. Cook about two minutes (until golden) on each side.
7. Remove from oil, place on paper towels to briefly drain, and coat in cinnamon sugar while still warm.

Sam's gnocchi with tomato mozzarella artichoke sauce

2008-09-12T08:49:00.001-07:00

My friend Sam is one of those talented people who can throw together ingredients without a recipe and create a masterpiece. Recently, she taught me how to make gnocchi, and she served it with a wonderful tomato mozzarella artichoke sauce. This was my attempt to recreate the dish. My gnocchi came out perfect, light and tender. My rendition of Sam's sauce, however, left a lot to be desired.

Sam's sauce goes something like this--a bit of your favorite spaghetti sauce, heated. Dice several small tomatoes and add to sauce. Add garlic, and fresh basil and oregano with a touch of rosemary. Drain and cut a can of artichoke hearts. Add to sauce. Chop fresh mozzarella and add to sauce. Serve. Our version is below. We're going to have to make it a few more times to get it tasting right. It'll be worth the effort. The dish Sam made for us was one of the best meals we've had.

gnocchi
2 lbs potatoes, boiled, peeled, and riced
1.5 C flour

Mix potatoes with flour until dough is workable. Roll into several thin logs. Slice into coin-shaped pieces. Press with fork. Put in boiling water and cook until pasta floats to the top.

sauce
2 cans tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
1-3 cloves garlic, diced
fresh basil leaves
fresh oregano leaves
(or use Italian herb blend)
2-3 fist-sized balls of mozzarella, cut into chunks
1-2 cans artichokes, drained, and cut into chunks
5-8 roma tomatoes, cut into chunks

Briefly sautee garlic. Add tomato sauce and paste, with a bit of water. Add herbs and artichokes. When sauce is heated, add mozzarella. Allow to melt slightly. Serve.

apple-apple bread pudding

2008-09-12T08:46:00.000-07:00

When I was looking for a base to make the rosemary hazelnut bread pudding, I decided on this one. On looking at the list of ingredients, I thought it would be a shame to use this just as a base when it sounded so good. So I made a batch of this, as well. The caramelized apples with the apple butter just melt in your mouth. I wish I had a piece right now.

apple-apple bread pudding (Baking, Dorie Greenspan)

caramelized apples 3 medium apples, peeled and cored (Dorie recommends Fujis or Galas; I used Granny Smith)
3 T butter
3 T sugar

12 oz. egg bread (I can never find brioche, so I used English toasting bread), sliced .5" thick
1 C spiced apple butter
3 C whole milk
1 C heavy cream
3 large eggs
5 large egg yolks
.75 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Butter a 9 x 13" baking pan, dust the inside with sugar, and tap out the excess. Line a larger roasting pan with a double thickness of paper towels.

Cut each apple in half from top to bottom, cut each half lengthwise into 6-8 slices, and then cut each slice in half crosswise.

Put a large skillet (preferably nonstick) over medium-high heat, add the butter, and when it melts, sprinkle over the sugar. Cook the butter and sugar for a minute or so--you want the sugar to caramelize but not burn, so adjust the heat accordingly. Toss in the apple slices--don't worry if the caramel seizes and lumps, it will melt and smooth out as you work--and cook, carefully turning the apples once or twice, until they are tender but not soft, 3-5 minutes. They should be golden, and some might even be caramelized. Transfer the apples and the liquid to a plate.
(I tore my bread into pieces before staling it, rather than retaining the whole slices.) If your bread is not stale, spread it out on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat and bake at 350 F to "stale" it for 10 minutes.

Spread one side of each slice of bread with the apple butter, then cut each slice on the diagonal to get 4 triangles. (I put my bread chunks and apple butter in a bowl and tossed them until they were coated.) Cover the bottom of the baking pan with half of the bread, arranging the triangles, buttered side up, so that they overlap slightly (don't worry about spaces between the slices). Spoon over the apples and their liquid and finish "the sandwich" with the rest of the bread.
Bring the milk and cream just to a boil.

Fill a teakettle with water and put it on to boil; when the water boils, turn off the heat. (I skipped this step, as I couldn't find my roasting pan to be able to put my baking pan in it.) Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, yolks, and the .75 C sugar. Still whisking, slowly drizzle in about one quarter of the hot milk mixture--this will temper, or warm, the eggs so they won't curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remaining milk. Add the vanilla and whisk to blend. Rap the bowl against the counter to pop any bubbles that might have formed, then spoon off any foam that has risen to the top. Pour the custard over the bread and press the bread gently with the back of a spoon to help it absorb the liquid. Leave the pan on the counter, giving the bread the back-of-the-spoon treatment now and then, for about 30 minutes.
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 F.

Put the baking pan in the roasting pan, slide the setup into the oven and very carefully pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the pudding pan. Bake the pudding for about 1 hour and 25 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean. Transfer the baking pan to a rack and cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.

The pudding can be served as is or dusted with confectioners' sugar just before serving. Or, if you want to give the pudding a little gloss, put about .5 C apple jelly in a small pot with a splash of water. Heat until the jelly liquefies, then brush a thin layer over the top of the pudding.

the marzipan people

2008-09-07T23:19:00.001-07:00

My sister asked me to help her make a cake for a class project last spring. B and I stayed up basically all night making people and scenery for the cake. These are a couple of the people I made. Their bodies are marzipan and their clothes are fondant. I was particularly proud of the man's curly hair (you can't really see it here, though). I got a kick out of making the woman--I had to give her tentacles to give the train of her skirt more volume.

potjie

2008-09-02T19:56:00.001-07:00

This was another dish I ate at the Google cafe. I almost never cook beef--B and I both prefer chicken--but I enjoyed the tender meat with the flavor of the apricots so much I knew I had to have this again. I scoured the Internet until I found a similar-sounding recipe (although I may still beg our friend for the authentic Google recipe). Biltongmakers describes this as a "lovely" potjie. I couldn't agree more.

I did a little tweaking to the original recipe, and I'll do a little more next time. As we'd never heard of potjie before the Google trip, we didn't have a potjie pot. I just used a large pot. Next time, I'll use a crockpot. I left out the kidney because we're not kidney people. I also used a little under a pound of stew meat, because I didn't think about the math before I sent B to the store to buy the meat. If I used the proper amount of meat next time, I'll increase the amount of sauce, because I thought it was just perfect.

The recipe calls for the vegetables to be layered into the pot in the order the ingredients list gives them. This may work in a potjie pot, but it was not the best idea for a regular pot on the stove. I cooked our potjie for around an hour extra, and the cabbage still was not done. Next time, I'll cook the veggies in a more sensible order, adding them according to their individual cooking times. I also used fresh apricots, because our friend Z had just given us a bunch from her garden. I feel bad for using them in this dish, because they basically disintegrated. Occasionally, I would get a bite with a bit of apricot. They added a subtle flavor to the dish, but next time I'll use dried ones, so they'll hold up and give a more distinct flavor. I also omitted the sweet potatoes, because I don't like them. I may try them next time, though, as I thought that regular potatoes seemed out of place in this dish. Or maybe I'll just stir in some gnocchi before serving.
The recipe below is a combination of what I did last time and what I'm going to try next time, so the times may be a little off.

Beef and Veggies Potjie (adapted from Biltongmakers.com)

1 lb. stewing beef, cubed

2 medium onions, chopped

125 ml dried apricots, soaked in water for 1 hour

4 carrots, peeled and sliced

4 medium potatoes, peeled and halved

6 small zucchini, sliced

250 ml cabbage, chopped

1 tomato, peeled and sliced

30 ml dried parsley30 ml cooking oil

black pepper to taste

the sauce

125 ml sherry (the recipe calls for sweet; I used dry)

125 ml soy sauce

5 ml black pepper

3 ml dry mustard

1 ml dry rosemary

1 ml dry thyme

1 cube beef stock

500 ml boiling water

Don't add salt; there's plenty in the soy sauce.

1. Heat the oil in the pot cook the meat till almost brown.

2. Add the onions and brown together.

3. Mix the sauce and add it to the pot.

4. Stir well, cover with the lid and simmer for 1.5 hours.

5. Add the cabbage and cook for 30-60 minutes.

6. Add the carrots and cook for 30 minutes.

7. Add the dried apricots and the remaining vegetables, sprinkling some pepper over the tomatoes, and simmer until vegetables are soft (30-60 min).

prep time: 15-30 min.

cooking time: 3 hrs 15 min.-4 hrs 15 min.

bread pudding a la Google (rosemary hazelnut bread pudding)

2008-08-25T21:37:00.001-07:00

I particularly enjoyed this dessert when our friend and his wife took B and I to dinner at the Google campus, and I've been wanting more ever since.

I used Dorie's apple-apple bread pudding as a base and added rosemary and hazelnut. This is best served cold; I found the flavor too strong when it was warm. If I make this again, I'll decrease the amount of rosemary and probably strain the leaves out of the milk altogether.

Rosemary Hazelnut Bread Pudding
12 oz. stale bread, torn into 1/2" chunks
3 eggs
5 egg yolks
1 C heavy cream
3 C whole milk
leaves from 1.5" piece of rosemary
1.25 oz hazelnuts, roasted and skinned

Bring milk and cream to a boil. Remove from heat and steep rosemary in hot mixture. Whisk together eggs and egg yolks. Temper egg mixture with about 1/4 the hot milk mixture. Then whisk in the rest.

Toss bread and hazelnuts together and place in buttered 9" x 13" pan. Pour custard mixture over top, and let sit for thirty minutes, using a spoon to occasionally press down any protruding pieces of bread.

Heat oven to 325 F and bake for about an hour and 25 minutes, or until pudding passes the knife test.

prep time: 50 min.
cooking time: 1.5 hrs.

the vegetables

2008-08-12T22:10:00.000-07:00

The vegetables Zillah gave us. I think they're gorgeous.

chicken piccata

2008-08-10T23:08:00.001-07:00

My brother came over the other day to learn a dish to cook for a date. We had to have something without alcohol, as he's underage and can't buy it to cook with himself, and something that used chicken breasts rather than a whole chicken, in the interest of time. I looked through New Best Recipes and chicken piccata was the first recipe I found that fit the bill. After reading the list of ingredients, I was expecting a light, sissified dish, the sort that comes with a few drops of lemon juice and olive oil and makes it so dieters can still eat at Italian restaurants. Which, as you probably already know, is not at all what chicken piccata tastes like. It was an explosion of sour, salty, smoky flavor. I was amazed that so much flavor was packed into the 1/3 C of sauce you're expected to divide between six servings. (We served ours with double helpings of sauce, and I'd still like to increase the portions.) This was an entirely enjoyable meal, and when my brother made it again for the rest of my family, all but one of my siblings loved it. No mean feat in a family where one child hates mashed potatoes, another hates hamburgers, and still another won't eat green vegetables.

chicken piccata (New Best Recipes, Cook's Illustrated)

2 large lemons
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (5-6 oz ea.), tenderloins removed and fat trimmed
salt and ground black pepper
.5 C flour
4 TB vegetable oil
a small shallot, minced, or 1 small garlic clove, minced or pressed through a garlic press
1 C low-sodium chicken broth
2 TB small capers, rinsed
3 TB unsalted butter, softened
2 TB minced fresh parsley leaves

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position, set a large heatrpoof serving or dinner plate on the rack and heat the oven to 200 degrees.
2. Halve one lemon pole to pole. Trim the ends from one half and cut it crosswise into slices 1/8-1/4" thick; set aside. Juice the remaining half and whole lemon to obtain .25 C juice; reserve.
3. Sprinkle both sides of the cutles generously with salt and pepper. Measure the flour into a shallow aking dish or pie plate. Working with one cutlet at time, coat with the flour and shake to remove the ecxcess.

4. Heat 2 TB of the oil in a heavy-bottom 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. lay half of the chicken cutlets in the skillet. Saute the cutlets until lightly browned on the first side, 2 to 2.5 minutes. Turn the cutlets and cook until the second side is lightly browqned, 2 to 2.5 minutes longer. Remove the pan from the heat and transfer the cutlets to the plate in teh oven. Add the remaining 2 TB oil to the now-empty skillet and heat until shimmering. Add the remaining chicken cutlets and repeat.

5. Add the shallot to the now-empty skilled and return the skillet to medium heat. Saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds (10 seconds for garlic). Add the broth and lemon slices, increase the heat to high, and sc rape the pan bottom with a wooden spoon or spatula to loosen the browned bits. Simmer until the liquid reduces to about 1/3 C, about 4 minutes. Add the reserved lemon juice and capers and simmer until the sauce reduces again to 1/3 cup, about 1 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and swirl in the butter until it melts and thickens the sauce. Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon the sauce over the chicken and serve immediately.

whole wheat bread

2008-08-10T14:09:00.001-07:00

Homemade whole wheat bread is one of my favorite things to eat, with its thin crust and tender but substantial middle. Mom always made this when I was growing up. On baking days, we'd have it for lunch, fresh from the oven.

whole wheat bread

4 C very warm water
1/8 C yeast
1/3 C oil
1/3 C honey
1 TB salt
1/8 C dough enhancer
11-12 C freshly ground wheat flour (white wheat, ground on finest setting)

Mix yeast and 6 C flour with water. Let sponge for 15 minutes. Add oil, honey, salt, and 5 C flour. Knead 6 minutes. Cover and allow to rise 30 minutes. Dump on floured surface. Cut into thirds, form loaves, and place in greased pans.

Preheat oven to 350. Place bread in pans on top of stove to rise 15 minutes. Then bake for 30-35 minutes.