08.18.08
Posted in Dairy, Dessert, Fruits, Ice Cream at 10:40 am by julie
Since we had to suffer through several straight days of 100F+ weather, I was determined to make a batch of ice cream to combat the heat. The Orange Popsicle ice cream from The Perfect Scoop was the perfect candidate for several reasons: It gave me a means to use up a big bag of sweet little clementines I’ve been trying to eat singlehandedly for several weeks; it called for half-and-half and sour cream, both of which I was able to run to our little corner market and pick up in a matter of minutes (they don’t carry whipping cream); it is a blender recipe, which is awfully convenient for chilling and later pouring into the running ice cream machine; and most importantly, it isn’t a custard-based recipe, which means no heat required!
I was a fan of orange creamsicles growing up, and with my addition of vanilla extract (the original calls for orange liqueur, which is not my thing), this recipe matches that flavor beautifully, with a creamy texture and refreshing hit of citrus. I predict that this ice cream won’t last the weekend in our fridge. But I have to admit that I actually liked the textural contrast of crunchy orange popsicle and creamy vanilla ice cream in the original treat, so I’m also tempted to make plain vanilla ice cream sometime and top it with orange granita to get that citrus crunch.
Creamsicle Ice Cream
2/3 C sugar
Grated zest of 5 clementines
1 1/4 C freshly squeezed clementine juice
1 C sour cream
1/2 C half-and-half
1 tsp vanilla extract
In a blender, pulverize the sugar together with the zest until very finely ground. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until the sugar is entirely dissolved. Chill thoroughly in the refrigerator before churning in your handy-dandy ice cream maker.
Source: Slightly adapted from The Perfect Scoop
, by David Lebovitz (p. 50).
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08.16.08
Posted in Breakfast at 6:14 pm by julie
What you see here may not look like much, but it is the best waffle I’ve ever made, pitiful home waffle iron be damned. I’ve been trying waffle recipes for years trying to find a gold-standard recipe, one that makes perfect waffles every time: light and sweet, but still crisp, and sturdy enough not to tear coming off the iron or during the application of butter. You can see a few of my attempts here, here, and here, but I have tried several others over the past year that didn’t make the blog: to name a few, the Old Fashioned Buttermilk Waffles from the Macrina Bakery Cookbook (rejected almost out of hand by Jeremy because they contained both semolina flour and cornmeal, and I wasn’t impressed by the texture or flavor either), the Teff Waffles from The Splendid Grain (alright, but didn’t live up to the effusive praise in the cookbook’s description), and the Banana-Cinnamon Waffles from Cooking Light May 2005 (these we’ve made several times when I have extra bananas, but they don’t have that classic waffle flavor).
Well, my waffle quest comes to an end here. Carrie Levin’s Belgian waffles are everything I want in a waffle, and I’ve already made them twice this month, so I know the first batch wasn’t a fluke. But then, Carrie grew up in Belgium, and her restaurant, Good Enough to Eat, was Jeremy’s favorite breakfast place in NYC, so I guess she knows her waffles. Of course, this won’t stop me from trying out new waffle recipes whenever they pique my interest, but it’s still good to have a reliable one to turn to. 
Belgian Waffles
1 1/2 C AP flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp plus 2 T sugar
1 1/2 C milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 egg yolks
3 egg whites
6 T butter, melted
Mix together the flour, salt, baking powder and 2 tsp of sugar in a large bowl. In another bowl, beat together the milk, vanilla and egg yolks, then pour the liquid over the dry ingredients and stir together with a fork until just blended. Cut in the melted butter.
Preheat the waffle iron. Meanwhile, in a third bowl, whisk together the egg whites with the 2 T of sugar until they form soft peaks. Stir a heaping tablespoon of these through the batter with a fork to lighten it, then dump all of the rest onto the batter and use a spatula and a figure-8 motion to fold them in gently. Try to mix the whites in thoroughly without deflating the batter. Now make waffles as you normally would in your iron. (I use canola oil spray on the hot iron and scoop out the batter in heaping half-cup portions, which fits my iron just about right without much spillage.) Carrie recommends serving with powdered sugar, fresh berries and a dollop of creme fraiche; they’re also good with butter and real maple syrup. This recipe makes about 6 waffles in my iron, and you can freeze leftovers to reheat in your toaster.
Source: The Good Enough to Eat Breakfast Cookbook, by Carrie Levin (p. 58-59).
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08.14.08
Posted in Cuisines, Dinner, Italian, Leftovers, Pastas, Persnickety Bits, Veggies at 5:25 pm by julie
Oh lordy, it is 100F outside and close to 90F indoors—way too hot to think about cooking! But the house has been cleaned up and the baby is still asleep, so I’ve got time to revisit an old post I meant to write way back in early June, when the weather was still mild and reasonable—seems like ages ago. My mom came for a visit the second week of June, to keep Nolan and me company while Jeremy was away at a training for work. While she was here, we were incredibly busy remodeling our back room to make it fit for a home theater room (our previous HT room was a bedroom that had to be sacrificed for Nolan’s nursery; both are still works in progress at this point). Over the course of five days, we emptied, cleaned and repainted the room, purchased Roman shades and an area rug, and started putting together a new TV stand. We also had a drawing of Jeremy’s framed, got the dog’s toenails clipped, and—the point of this post—visited the Salem Wednesday farmer’s market.
Among other things, we came home from the market with Hood strawberries for ice cream, a bouquet of curly garlic scapes, and a huge bagful of fava beans. While Nolan napped after all the excitement and my mom worked on painting the baseboards, I macerated berries, buzzed up an easy recipe for garlic scape pesto, and got the favas shelled, blanched and peeled. When dinnertime rolled around, all I had to do was cook pasta and toss it together with the favas—quickly sauteed in olive oil—the pesto, and a splash of cream. The pesto turned out to have an intense garlicky heat, much more powerful than I had anticipated. A little went a very long way, so we had lots left over. (I mixed some of it into scrambled eggs, which helped tame the flavor but produced some awfully unphotogenic beige eggs, a disappointment since the pesto itself was such a sprightly spring green.)
As for the room, I keep trying to take photos that actually show what it looks like now. (You can see, a bit, its previous state in this photo, which was taken from nearly the same stance.) Alas, the problem is that I can’t back up enough with our camera’s lens to capture more than a corner of the room at one time. But this should at least give you the gist of it, complete with ugly purple couch and pretty German shepherd pup. What you can’t quite see to the left is the TV, and to the right is a built-in bookshelf, the stairs to the basement, another big window, and three hanging pots containing herbs that keep dying (I think it is just too hot back there now—currently wilting are sage, lemon thyme and basil plants). We still need to get some speakers and other equipment set up, and take care of a few finishing touches like more artwork, but I’m pretty happy with the result, considering our limited options.
My laptop is about to fuse to my knees, so I’m going to give it a chance to cool off. Man, that strawberry ice cream sounds really good about now… time to make a fresh batch of something cool and refreshing, I dare say.
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08.10.08
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Nuts, Grains & Legumes, Soups at 10:35 pm by julie
I swear I’m not crazy. Last week, when we had unseasonal temperatures in the 60’s and overcast skies, this lentil soup was just the ticket. More recently, with temperatures back in the mid-90’s, I’m overheating just thinking about soup. So this post will be brief.
I was mostly looking for something I could make from pantry staples to use up some freshly made chicken stock. Jeremy picked lentils out of the options I ticked off, and I wanted to track down something a bit out of the ordinary. The soup itself is pretty basic: the smoked paprika and even the carrots were additions of mine. The thing that makes it special is the walnut cream garnish, which adds depth and richness. The walnut cream is also very similar to the salsa di noci we like on rotini, and I used some of the extra for just that the next day.
Lentil Soup With Pounded Walnuts and Cream
2 C brown lentils
2 to 4 T butter
1 onion, finely diced
2 carrots, cut into small dice
1 bay leaf
1 tsp smoked paprika
6 C vegetable or chicken stock (or water)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large garlic cloves, pan-roasted*
2/3 C lightly toasted walnuts
½ C ricotta
2 T heavy cream
Flax oil for garnish, optional
Soak the lentils in water for 2 hours, then drain.
Melt the butter in a large pot over low heat. Add the onion, carrot, and bay leaf. Sauté over medium-high heat until onion is translucent and carrots are tender, about 5 minutes. Add lentils, stock, smoked paprika and 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat. Simmer, covered, until lentils are soft, about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Using a food processor, grind together the garlic with the walnuts and a large pinch of salt. Add the cream and ricotta, and process until a smooth paste is formed.
To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and top each with a large spoonful of walnut cream, a sprinkle of smoked paprika and, if desired, a drizzle of flax oil. Serves 4 to 6.
Source: Adapted from New York Times; originally from “Vegetable Soups,” by Deborah Madison.
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08.05.08
Posted in Dinner, Lamb, Meats at 11:02 pm by julie
Jeremy’s parents were here recently to visit us for the first time since they moved across the country in 2004. They wanted to meet their new grandson or something—go figure. Anyway, they were only here for a few days, but I wanted to make sure to cook them at least one nice meal, because I haven’t had the opportunity to do so since long before I knew my way around the kitchen.
I was already planning to make my July Daring Bakers challenge for them, but asked for Jeremy’s input as to what they might like for dinner, and his response was lamb. His response is almost always lamb, parents or no parents, so I’m always on the lookout for a new recipe. I decided to try out the grilled stuffed leg of lamb in the August Bon Appetit, which is served with caramelized lemon jus, and Jeremy brought home an appropriately boneless hunk of meat for me to pound into oblivion. After stuffing and trussing the lamb, I gave it an hour or so to marinate in lemon juice and olive oil while making the lemon jus. Jeremy’s mom was good enough to entertain Nolan while I worked, and then watched over the grilling lamb when I had to go pump.
It took longer to cook on our cast iron grill pan than I anticipated, despite my efforts to keep the stuffed lamb on the flat side. I had more than enough time to prep some rainbow chard for a side, blanching the leaves separately from the stems. The recipe didn’t mention whether or not to strain the jus, so I went ahead with it. I think my decision to make the jus in advance and keep it warm on a back burner contributed to a bitter overtone, as it contains whole grilled lemon slices, pith and all. A pinch of extra sugar tweaked its flavor just enough to offset the bitterness, though, and the acidity of the jus paired up nicely with both the meat and the simply sauteed chard.
Grilled Leg of Lamb with Caramelized Lemon Jus
1 well-trimmed 4 to 4-1/2 pound boneless leg of lamb with shank end removed
4 large garlic cloves; 3 chopped, 1 sliced
2 tsp finely grated lemon peel
20 fresh sage leaves (about), divided
4 oz thinly sliced pancetta (Italian bacon)
3 T fresh lemon juice
3 T extra-virgin olive oil
Open lamb, boned side up, like book. Trim most sinew and fat, being careful not to cut any holes in meat. Make one 3/4- to 1-inch-deep full-length cut in each thick portion of lamb (do not cut through to work surface). Cover lamb with sheet of plastic wrap. Using rolling pin, pound to even 1- to 1 1/2-inch thickness (lamb will be about 8×19 inches).
Peel off plastic wrap. Sprinkle lamb evenly with salt and pepper, chopped garlic, and lemon peel. Top with 15 sage leaves, spaced evenly apart. Cover with pancetta. Starting at 1 long side, fold lamb in half. Tie lamb tightly at 2-inch intervals into long roll. Sprinkle lamb with salt and pepper. Whisk lemon juice and oil in medium bowl; season with salt and pepper. Brush mixture all over lamb and let stand at room temperature 1 hour.
Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Place lamb on grill and sear on all sides. Continue to grill until thermometer inserted into thickest part registers 130°F for rare, turning and brushing occasionally with lemon juice mixture, about 45 minutes. Transfer to cutting board. Let rest 10 minutes. Cut lamb into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Serve with Caramelized Lemon Jus.
Caramelized Lemon Jus
1 large lemon, cut into 1/3-inch-thick slices
1/3 C extra-virgin olive oil
3 large shallots, thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
10 large fresh sage leaves
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
3 T sugar
2/3 C dry white wine
2 C beef broth
Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Grill lemon slices until charred, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer to plate; chop coarsely.
Heat 1/3 cup olive oil in heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add sage leaves, garlic, and grilled lemon pieces with any juices, then sugar. Cook until shallots start to color, about 5 minutes. Add wine, and simmer until liquid has mostly reduced. Add beef broth; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium; simmer until jus is reduced to 3 cups, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Source: Bon Appetit, August 2008
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08.04.08
Posted in Dairy, Dessert, Foodblog Events, Nuts, Grains & Legumes at 5:53 pm by julie
The first week of August is World Breastfeeding Week, an event designed, as the name implies, to promote breastfeeding on a global scale. As you may have noticed from my previous posts, breastfeeding is a big part of my life right now, even though I have to come at it a little sideways. Nolan has had latching issues from Day One, so I’ve been exclusively pumping for him since Day Two. It is a huge time investment—I just did some quick math, and estimate that I’ve spent at least 360 hours attached to that pump since Nolan’s birth 19 weeks ago (that is a conservative estimate, based on 8 20-minute sessions per day… it sometimes takes 30 minutes per session, and I pumped 9-10 times per day the first month or two, while establishing my supply). With all that effort, I produce just barely enough for Nolan on a daily basis, with perhaps a few ounces to store in the freezer against future need. But it is such a worthwhile investment, and I consider myself incredibly lucky to have both the supply and the time to pump for my son.
I realize that breastfeeding may not be an option for every family, but it is so incredibly beneficial for both mother and baby that it is certainly worth attempting, even for a short period of time. I am bound and determined to at least reach 6 months, and a year or more if possible.
In case you were wondering what set off this little discourse on my foodblog, you can thank Linda at Make Life Sweeter! for hosting an event called Got Milk? in honor of World Breastfeeding Week, for which this post is my entry. Anyway, off the soap box and on with the food.
I had some praline paste leftover from the filbert gateau even after whipping up a batch of praline ricotta pancakes. It didn’t amount to much, but I couldn’t bring myself to throw it out, so I used it to flavor some vanilla pudding instead. I adapted a recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours, using 1% milk rather than whole milk. It worked out alright, but I imagine the texture would be a bit creamer and less gloppy with a higher fat content. I’m not convinced that her method of using the food processor to make the pudding was worth the extra dishes, however; the stove-top tempering method has always worked just fine for me.
Praline Pudding
2 1/4 C 1% or whole milk
6 T sugar
3 T cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
3 egg yolks
2 T butter, room temperature
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 C praline paste/powder
Bring 2 cups of milk and 3 T sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan. Meanwhile, in a blender or food processor, blend remaining 3 T sugar and egg yolks for 1 minute. Add remaining 1/4 cup milk and pulse just to mix. Then add cornstarch and salt and pulse a few more times.
With the machine still running, very slowly add hot milk mixture. Process for a few seconds more, then pour everything back into the saucepan. Whisk without stopping over medium heat until the pudding thickens and some bubbles pop on the surface. Do not let it boil completely, so if it hasn’t thickened yet, turn down the heat. Scrape the pudding back into the machine (avoiding any scorched spots) and pulse a few more times. Add butter, vanilla, and 3 T praline paste, and pulse until evenly blended.
Pour the pudding evenly into 6 4-oz ramekins or cups. Press a piece of plastic wrap over each surface. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Serve with a sprinkle of praline powder or some caramelized nuts.
Source: Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan (p. 384).
Praline Paste
1 C (4 ½ oz.) hazelnuts, toasted/skinless
2/3 C sugar
Line a jelly roll pan with a silpat, or lightly buttered parchment.
Put the sugar in a heavy 10-inch skillet. Heat on low flame for about 10-20 min until the sugar melts around the edges. Do not stir the sugar. Swirl the pan if necessary to prevent the melted sugar from burning. Brush the sides of the pan with water to remove sugar crystals. If the sugar in the center does not melt, stir briefly. When the sugar is completely melted and caramel in color, remove from heat. Stir in the nuts with a wooden spoon and separate the clusters. Return to low heat and stir to coat the nuts on all sides. Cook until the mixture starts to bubble. Remember – this is an extremely hot mixture. Then onto the parchment lined sheet and spread as evenly as possible. As it cools, it will harden into brittle. Break the candied nuts into pieces and place them in the food processor. Pulse into a medium-fine crunch or process until the brittle turns into a powder. To make paste, process for several more minutes. Store in an airtight container and store in a cook dry place. Do not refrigerate.
Source: Great Cakes by Carol Walter
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08.03.08
Posted in American, Chocolate, Cookies & Candies, Cuisines, Dessert at 2:12 pm by julie
I don’t often follow, or even really notice, food fads. For instance, I completely missed out on that whole molten chocolate cake craze until this past June. I made a batch of Dorie Greenspan’s Korova cookies for Christmas in 2005, without a clue that they would become popular enough to rename World Peace Cookies in her Baking book of 2006—maybe I was actually ahead of the curve on that one. And I’ve never yet made a loaf of no-knead bread, popularized by the New York Times article, though I do mean to try it at some point.
The current foodblog fashion trend was also set by the Times, and this was one I couldn’t resist for long: big, chewy, golden brown chocolate chip cookies adapted from a recipe by Jacques Torres. Even though my heart will always lie with David Lebovitz’s low-and-slow recipe, I can’t help but try out other variations.
The Torres cookies are good ones indeed, and I can see what all the fuss is about. They have that classic flavor, with tons of bittersweet chocolate and just the right balance of buttery crunch and chewy innards. I divided my dough between two baking days (after about 24 and 72 hours, respectively), some plain and some sprinkled with fleur de sel. I didn’t have quite enough cake flour, so about an ounce of that was subbed with all-purpose. I used a 1/3 cup measure for a total of 2 dozen cookies, and baked some for 19 minutes, the rest for 16.
What we thought: While warm, all I could taste was chocolate (I used Ghirardelli bittersweet chips). Once they had cooled, all the cookies stayed soft in the center, though we both preferred the texture of the 16-minute cookies, which looked very underdone coming out of the oven. I liked the salt-sprinkled cookies more than Jeremy did, since he isn’t a huge salt fan, but since I also like dipping my cookies in milk, and salt + milk = yuck, I ended up leaving the salt off all the 72-hour cookies for that purpose.
I like the advance prep aspect of this recipe, since I could make the dough while Nolan was napping and then bake at my next opportunity, but the cold dough was a pain to work with. If I use this recipe again, I’m going to portion the dough before chilling it, and then let it rest as 1/3-cup pucks, stacked in a container between sheets of waxed paper. I’m still not entirely convinced they were worth the extra trouble of waiting for the dough to rest 36 hours, however; a more scientific comparison might be in order, baking off both freshly made and well-rested batches of dough. Either way, you can hardly go wrong with fresh chocolate chip cookies, so I understand the wave of popularity!
Jacques Torres’ Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 C minus 2 T (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 C (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 C) unsalted butter
1 1/4 C (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 C plus 2 T (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 lb bittersweet chocolate disks or chips, at least 60 percent cacao content
Sea salt
Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate in and incorporate gently. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet. Sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 16 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin, or cooled, with a big glass of milk. Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.
Source: New York Times
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07.30.08
Posted in Cake, Chocolate, Dessert, Foodblog Events, Nuts, Grains & Legumes at 12:07 am by julie
I love being a Daring Baker. Every month I get to try out a new recipe, often one I would never have chosen myself—either because it has an intimidating number of steps, or requires a technical skill I haven’t yet mastered, or perhaps because it involves texture and flavor combinations I wouldn’t seek out. These past few months since my son was born, I have particularly looked forward to my Daring Bakers challenges because they are one of the few things I still make time to do for myself (even if everyone I know benefits from the finished products also). That also means that part of the monthly challenge becomes simply finding that time, around the needs of a 4-month old baby.
This month’s challenge was a filbert gateau with praline buttercream, from Great Cakes by Carol Walter, a gorgeous ganache-glazed hazelnut confection with ribbons of satiny buttercream. I decided right away that I wanted to make it to share with my in-laws, who were coming to visit us (but mostly Nolan) around the middle of the month. Their methods of event planning always keep us on our toes, and we didn’t know exactly when they would be arriving until the day before their flight, so I couldn’t start prepping the cake in advance. Luckily, they took a detour to visit more family in Coeur d’Alene, so I had a chance to go out and find hazelnuts, and then make the cake in an evening marathon with just the finishing touches to take care of the next morning.
This cake is chock full of hazelnuts. They are grown in Oregon, but it’s the wrong season for them, so they were a little hard to track down. Bulk bins are my friend. The first order of business was to get them skinned and toasted. I had quite enough of hazelnut skin stabbing under my fingernails when I made that sublime gianduja gelato a few months ago, so I tried a different method this time: blanching them in baking soda water, supposedly a foolproof technique. I don’t know if my hazelnuts were just being unusually stubborn, but I blanched them twice, attacked them with my vegetable scrubber (it will never be the same!) and still ended up spending about an hour scraping skin off each nut with my fingernails. It may not have been literally painful, but the clean-up afterwards was a real bear. I officially hate skinning hazelnuts.
The cake batter came together with Nolan’s assistance. In other words, once I got the toasted nuts out of the oven, I wore him in a sling while I worked. He did great most of the time, watching everything very intently, but started getting warm and cranky right about the time I was folding the sifted nut meal into the aerated batter. I ended up popping them in the oven at top speed, and after a bottle of milk, Nolan spent the rest of the evening napping like a little angel.
A few notes about the cake layers: The recipe requires you to sift the mixture of nut meal, cake flour and cornstarch through a mesh strainer to catch any stray chunks of hazelnut. By the time I was done sifting, I had about half a cup of coarse meal resembling sand caught in the strainer. Rather than let it go to waste, I incorporated it into my praline.
Also, the recipe calls for a 10″ cake split into three layers. That prospect was pretty scary, and I didn’t own a 10″ pan, but I honestly intended to purchase one and go through with it. I ran out of time to get to the kitchen store, however, so in the end I split the batter between two 9″ pans, and cut each of those in half for a total of 4 layers. As per the instructions, I just greased and floured my pans, and my cakes both wanted to stick on the bottoms. I know a few people had related incidents that led to huge holes in their cakes; one of mine nearly broke when it released at a bad moment, but I got away with just a minor crack. Parchment-lining the cake pans might be wise for this recipe.
Once Nolan was ensconced in the bedroom for the night, it was safe to proceed with the more dangerous element of this cake—the praline. This recipe uses the dry method to make caramel, which no longer worries me thanks to the milk chocolate-caramel tart from last August.
I popped the resulting hazelnut brittle in the fridge to chill while working on the buttercream. This particular Swiss buttercream comes together in the opposite manner of the one we used for our yule logs: the meringue is prepared first, and while the butter creams, you fling sticky dollops of meringue into it until—if all goes to plan—you end up with glorious, smooth, light buttercream. While I was still beating the meringue, the praline had hardened and was sent into the food processor for several minutes, until it had been ground into a paste with a packable consistency akin to brown sugar. Incidentally, this praline recipe makes more paste than you will need for the gateau; I highly recommend using some of the leftovers in these ricotta pancakes. Yum!
Here is where I’m not sure if my technique was off or if the recipe is flawed. As smooth as my praline paste appeared to be, when stirred into the buttercream, it tended to form little clumps. No amount of whipping improved the graininess, but since my buttercream didn’t break, I was still reasonably satisfied. The slight praline crunch did give it a certain charm, and the flavor was magnificent.
Before collapsing into bed at 1:30am, I managed to slice and assemble my layers. I used a vanilla-scented soaking syrup and remembered to add whipped cream on top of the buttercream layers, little difference though it would turn out to make. The assembled layers set up in the refrigerator overnight, and the next morning, after breakfast with my in-laws, I trimmed the edges of the cake as best I could and glazed it with apricot preserves to seal in the crumbs.
Next came the ganache. I used Scharffenberger 70% because I had it on hand, supplemented with less than an ounce of bittersweet Ghirardelli chips. I still don’t have an offset spatula (something else I had intended to get at the kitchen store), so I used a chef’s knife to smooth the top of the cake and a small spreader for the sides. I didn’t quite achieve a mirror finish, but it was still glossy and luscious, and many willing fingers assisted with the clean-up of the ganache that dripped under the cake.
I had some reserved buttercream to use for decorating my cake. Remembering how uncooperative buttercream can be when cold, I made sure to give it plenty of time to come back toward room temperature before attempting to pipe it. While I waited, I decided to make some caramelized hazelnuts for garnish. All I did was caramelize some sugar, skewer the hazelnuts with toothpicks (not on their seam), twirl them quickly through the caramel, and then stab the toothpick into the bottom of my mesh strainer. I kept the strainer on top of a deep bowl to catch the drips, and that was that. Not quite as fun, but nearly as effective as Tartelette’s apple-on-the-dishwasher trick in its own way, I’d like to think.
The scariest part of this cake was easily the piping. I’ve never piped frosting in my life, although I bought a basic set of tips back in December. I picked out the leaf tip from the batch and dove in, buttercream still on the solid side. That changed quickly as it started melting from the heat of my hands and squishing out the top of the bag. Turns out my leaf tip is a pretty small one, and the chunks of praline paste kept clogging it up, leading to some seriously thick and thin sections as the frosting backed up and then splooshed out all at once. If I had been smart, I would have reserved some unflavored buttercream for decorating before adding the praline paste. Ah well! In any event, I clearly need MUCH more practice with piping, and probably some different tips. Maybe I should go buy a can of frosting just to practice with… Anyway, it could have been worse, and the caramelized hazelnuts were a nice touch, I thought.
The cake was delicious, with a definite hazelnut flavor. I personally think that the Scharffenberger chocolate tasted a little too fruity for the hazelnuts; something a little more bitter would be more to my taste, or some Valrhona Noisette Noir Gianduja would fit this cake like a glove. I couldn’t taste the apricot or the whipped cream at all, and I left out the liqueurs called for, but didn’t miss any of those. I also didn’t let the cake sit at room temperature for more than about half an hour after it set, but our house was warm and the buttercream had already started softening in that time, and would have turned to mush if I’d waited longer (plus, we were hungry!).
There have been lots of comparisons by other Daring Bakers between this month’s challenge and April’s Opera Cake, since both included syrup-brushed layers of nut-based genoise and buttercream, with a finishing glaze. Many seem to prefer this cake to the opera cake because it is less sweet, but that never bothered me because of my extreme sweet tooth. I actually loved the mousse element of the opera cake and enjoyed the pina colada flavoring I chose for it, so the two cakes are about on par in my estimation. If this gateau had a more balanced chocolate-hazelnut/gianduja flavor, however, it would win hands down.
Thanks to Chris of Mele Cotte for choosing this interesting and delicious recipe, and be sure to check out all of the hundreds of more professionally decorated gateaux than mine on the Daring Bakers’ blogroll.
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07.27.08
Posted in Cuisines, Dinner, Foodblog Events, Italian, Nuts, Grains & Legumes, Pastas at 8:37 am by julie
I was shocked and saddened earlier this week to learn that Sher of What Did You Eat? had passed away. I was a regular reader and admirer of Sher’s blog: she was a regular participant in many foodblogging events, including Daring Bakers, Weekend Herb Blogging, and Presto Pasta Nights, and her recipes were always really tempting. I admired her rescue and rehabilitation of wildlife, and enjoyed reading about the misadventures of her kitties.
The foodblogging community is honoring Sher today, and I decided to post a recipe featuring fava beans in her memory. Sher was a big fava fan, growing, harvesting, and cooking impressive amounts of the beans for the past several years. I went with pasta, but it was two days in the making, because Nolan was cranky from his 4-month vaccinations and didn’t give me much opportunity for cooking—I had just enough time to peel, blanch and shell my big bag of beans one evening before he woke up and spent about three hours fussing. The beans went in the fridge until the next night, when I used them to make a velvety green fava sauce for fettuccine, enriched with a bit of cream and ricotta, and accented with salty crumbles of bacon and feta. I like to think Sher would approve.
In further tribute to Sher, this will be my entry for Presto Pasta Nights #74, hosted this week by its lovely founder, Ruth of Once Upon a Feast.
Fava Fettuccine with Feta and Bacon
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1-1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 C chicken stock
salt and freshly ground pepper
2 C shelled, blanched and peeled fava beans
1/4 C ricotta
1/3 C heavy cream
3/4 lb dried fettuccine
Feta for garnish
Crumbled bacon for garnish
Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat until hot. Add the garlic and saute briefly until light brown. Stir in the oregano, then add the stock. Bring to a boil, season with salt and pepper, and add 1-1/2 cups of the fava beans. Simmer to blend the flavors, about 3 minutes, or until the beans are tender. Meanwhile, boil water for pasta and cook fettuccine according to package directions.
Remove from the heat, add the ricotta and cream, and use a stick blender to puree until smooth. Return the sauce to the pan and add the remaining favas. Warm through and taste for seasoning. Drain pasta, reserving about a cup of pasta water, and toss with the sauce. If necessary, add some pasta water to the sauce to loosen it. Serve topped with feta and crumbled bacon.
3. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and add salt. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 12 minutes. Drain, reserving about 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water. Pour the pasta into a warm serving bowl and add the sauce. Toss well and thin with the pasta water, if necessary, until the sauce is glossy and not sticky. Serve immediately and grate the cheese over the top at the table.
4. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil over the pasta. Just before serving, ladle a little hot pasta water into the bowl for a couple minutes to warm it up. Drain the water before filling the bowl with the pasta.
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07.23.08
Posted in Dinner, Pastas, Veggies at 10:33 pm by julie
I vividly remember my one childhood experience with beets. I have no idea what else we had for supper that night, but there were three slices of canned beets on my plate, and my mom wouldn’t let me leave the table until I ate them. Several hours later, she downgraded that order to one bite, and I finally got to get up. I’m not sure why she was so insistent, because I don’t think she cares for beets herself. They certainly never appeared on our dinner plates again.
Why I picked up a bunch of chubby little red beets at the farmer’s market last week, I’m still not quite sure. But I tucked them and their sprightly greens into my backpack with numerous other purchases—including a tub of local goat cheese, knowing its affinity with beets—and brought them home. Everyone seems to say that the best way to tackle fresh beets, first of all, is to roast them, so I knew that was item one on the agenda. Because it was already shaping up to be a hot day, I took a page from Lidia Bastianich and roasted them at 400F for about 45 minutes with a quarter-inch of water in the bottom of the pan to help get them started. Although they seemed fork-tender to me, I may not have cooked them quite long enough, because their skins didn’t slip right off as I had been led to expect; I ended up using a paring knife to finish the job.
Because the strong flavor of beets is something I wanted to work up to slowly, and because I wanted to use the greens as well, I chose my recipe very carefully: fresh beet fettuccine with sauteed greens and a simple creamy goat cheese sauce. Reserving the 3 smallest beets to toss with the pasta, I pureed the rest in my food processor with a splash of balsamic vinegar to lubricate them. For my pasta dough, I adapted Marcella Hazan’s recipe for spinach pasta, muttering apologies under my breath (she clearly disapproves of other flavored pastas); I think I ended up adding about 3 tablespoons of my puree, which retained some small slivers of beet, to the dough before it came together in all its magenta glory. It rolled out with absolutely no problems, and once I had the onions and beet greens sauteeing for the condiment, I ran it through the cutter and dropped it in boiling water.
Beets are shockingly beautiful root vegetables, I have to give them that. The cooked pasta lost some of its vibrant color to the cooking water, but remained respectably pink, particularly once the cut beets joined them. Despite my scrutiny, I was not able to discern any beety flavor to the fettuccine itself—probably Marcella’s reason for disdaining colored pastas as not adding to the eating experience. The color alone made me really happy, though, and who knows, maybe it retained some nutritional value as well. I liked the sauce for its creamy tang and simplicity, and the beet greens tasted much like the more familiar chard. I even ate a bite (note the singular) of roasted beet without coercion, but I’m still not convinced I will ever like them. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt in the future, though, because I do think I undercooked them slightly. I just need some time to muster up the courage again.
Beet Fettuccine with Greens and Goat Cheese
1 bunch beet greens (from about 8 beets)
3-4 small beets, roasted, peeled, and quartered
Salt
1/2 C olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced vertically
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 T balsamic vinegar
1 lb fresh beet fettuccine (see below)
Freshly ground black pepper
6 oz soft goat cheese (chevre)
3 oz grated Parmesan cheese
Wash the beet greens thoroughly, removing the thick part of the stems (save for another recipe, or cut into 2″ sections and blanch for 3 minutes in the pasta water) and chop coarsely. Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta and add 2 teaspoons salt.
In a large saute pan over medium heat, warm the olive oil and add the onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute. Add vinegar, and cook for 1 minute, stirring to break up the brown bits. Add the beet greens and stir several minutes, until wilted; finally, add the roasted beet wedges to warm through.
Cook the pasta until done, just a few minutes for fresh fettuccine. Using tongs or a spider, transfer the pasta to the saute pan with the vegetables, allowing some pasta water to come along for the ride (reserve extra in case you need it to loosen the sauce later). Toss gently with the tongs to mix, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Add half of both of the cheeses to the pasta. Stir through, spooning a few more tablespoons of the pasta water over the cheeses if necessary to warm them and make them saucy. Add remaining cheese and toss; serve immediately.
Source: Adapted from The Oregonian.
Fresh Beet Pasta
1 1/2 C flour
2 extra-large eggs
Roasted beet puree to bring dough together (about 3 T)
Place flour and eggs in the bowl of a standing mixer and beat using the paddle attachment until it begins to come together; while the mixer runs, add beet puree a tablespoon at a time, until dough comes together as a ball. Switch to the dough hook and knead for several minutes, until smooth and elastic. Allow dough to rest for 15 minutes before rolling out and cutting, either by hand or with a pasta roller.
Source: Adapted from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, by Marcella Hazan.
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