07.27.09

Stay-Puft

Posted in Chocolate, Cookies & Candies, Dessert, Foodblog Events, Ice Cream at 2:55 pm by julie

The July Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network. We were given the choice of making either or both of these two cookies; I would have liked to try both of them, but our waistlines could only handle one. I chose the mallow cookies, since I’ve never had the guts to make my own marshmallow before. To be perfectly honest, I’m not a huge fan of marshmallows, mostly because of their rubbery texture and one-note sugary taste, but I’d always heard that the homemade variety is a completely different species from the store-bought sort, so I was very curious to know if that were true.

These cookies came together over the course of several days for me, in part because of the heat wave we’ve been having here in Oregon, and in part because our former sticky bun is now able to toddle around after me and cling to my leg, which slows down my progress tremendously. (He also pilfers my fish turner, spider, and various other kitchen implements, but that’s another story.) I made the dough one evening, stuck it in the fridge, and didn’t get around to baking it off until the next day. I had to do a double-take when I realized the recipe called for storing it as a chilled disk, rolling it and stamping out shapes, because I had kind of assumed it would call for slicing it from log form like so many refrigerated cookie dough. It rolled out fine, but made so many cookies that I ended up freezing half the dough—in a log—to use another time.

I didn’t have a cookie cutter as small as the one called for in the recipe, so instead I used a 2″ round biscuit cutter. My cookies puffed up quite a bit when I baked them, so I may not have rolled the dough quite thin enough. I decided to slice most of them in half while they were hot, which worked beautifully and gave me a more wafer-like cookie.

When it came time to make the marshmallow, I realized that I was out of light corn syrup. I took a risk and substituted dark corn syrup in its place, and the color of the heated sugar syrup made me worry that my marshmallows would end up beige and molasses-flavored. As it turned out, however, they whipped up white as snow, and the flavor had just a whisper of brown-sugar complexity that married nicely with vanilla. It would have been helpful if the recipe had specified an amount of whipping time for the marshmallow. Mine took a good ten or fifteen minutes at high speed to whip up to a stiff consistency after I added the sugar syrup, about long enough for the mixture to cool, which I doubt was a coincidence.

My house was so warm that my marshmallow didn’t want to hold its shape for long, so as soon as I got all my cookies piped out, I ran the tray down into our cool basement and crossed my fingers that the mallow wouldn’t end up melting and running all over the place. Since I didn’t bake all the dough at one time, I had about half of the marshmallow leftover, and I poured that freeform on a silpat dusted with powdered sugar, to use for another purpose.

Several hours later, the mallow was more set than tacky, so I went ahead and did the chocolate coating before bedtime. I was tired and cranky from the heat, so I didn’t bother with a bain marie; I just used semi-sweet chocolate chips and melted them over low heat in a saucepan. It worked out fine; no burning, seizing, or otherwise. However, I did run out of glaze before all the cookies were coated, so I had to make more. They went back on a silpat in the basement overnight. (And I have to just say, these look so much like Tagalongs, I might have to make some from that log of extra dough in my freezer…once the weather cools back down, that is!)

The next day I went downstairs to check on the mallows, and the chocolate was still gooey. A good 24 hours after that, it was still not totally set up, even in my cool basement, so I think only the fridge will suffice this time of year—we’ve had over a week of temps in the upper 90’s, are supposed to top 100F for the next few days, and it has got to be at least 85 degrees in my house. The second I pick up one of these cookies to take a bite, it starts melting all over my hand, but the few I’ve managed to taste are absolutely delicious, worlds better than any marshmallow product I’ve ever purchased, so the rumors are true. Homemade marshmallows are worth the fuss. Nolan loves the cookies too, but I think they are about the messiest possible cookie to cut up and share with a baby—crumbs, melting chocolate and sugary goo. We had slightly better luck feeding him our alternative marshmallow application, below.

I cut up the excess marshmallow into sticky cubes and used it in a recipe Jeremy has been requesting to combat the heat—homemade rocky road ice cream. The ice cream base was from The Perfect Scoop, made with a combination of Dutch-process cocoa, Valrhona bittersweet chocolate and Guittard milk chocolate. I mixed it after processing with roasted chopped almonds and the homemade marshmallow, and it is easily the best rocky road we’ve ever had.

This marshmallow recipe stayed pretty sticky and hard to cut up; I’m not sure if that was caused by the heat or an error on my part, or if that’s just how this recipe intended them to be for the cookies. I’ll have to try a stand-alone marshmallow recipe this winter for hot chocolate and s’mores. I was a little afraid my cubes would dissolve when I stirred them into the ice cream, but as you can see, the marshmallow maintained its structural integrity and worked very nicely with the ice cream.

Thanks so much to Nicole and the Daring Bakers for pushing me to give homemade marshmallows a chance. This was another fun challenge! And be sure to look at all the gorgeous mallows and milanos at the Daring Bakers Blogroll!

I am a member of the Theta Class of Daring Bakers, inducted in July 2007. Below is a list of previous challenges:
Strawberry Mirror Cake – July 2007
Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart – August 2007
Cinnamon Rolls and Sticky Buns – September 2007
Bostini Cream Pies – October 2007
Tender Potato Bread – November 2007
Traditional Buche de Noel – December 2007
Lemon Meringue Pie – January 2008
French Bread – February 2008
Perfect Party Cake – March 2008
Opéra Cake – May 2008
Danish Braid – June 2008
Filbert Gateau – July 2008
Chocolate Éclairs – August 2008
Lavash Crackers and Dip – September 2008
French Yule Log – December 2008
Tuiles – January 2009
Chocolate Valentino and Ice Cream – February 2009
Lasagne of Emilia-Romana – March 2009
Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake – April 2009
Apple Strudel – May 2009
Bakewell Tart and Homemade Jam – June 2009

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07.02.09

Pasta Pom and Popovers

Posted in Cuisines, Dinner, Dips & Spreads, Italian, Pastas, Quick Breads at 5:02 pm by julie

I’ve made this recipe so many times I’ve lost count, and was actually surprised to discover that I hadn’t written it up on the blog before. It is a good way to use up that extra bit of ricotta you’ve neglected in the fridge, its remaining ingredients are all pantry staples, and the sauce takes no more time to cook than the pasta, so it is a particularly good recipe to have in the arsenal for those days when you’re looking around the kitchen at dinnertime, scratching your head and trying to figure out what to sling together (or maybe that’s just me!).

I’ve made it alternately with orecchiette, fusili, and these radiattore, and usually serve with some sort of bread for my bread fiend to dunk in the sauce. On this occasion, I went with parmesan popovers and garlic butter, as a quick take on garlic bread. They were alright, but the garlic butter really seemed to make all the difference, because I found the plain popovers on the bland side.

Pasta Pomodoro e Ricotta

3/4 lb. pasta (orecchiette, fusilli, or radiattore work well)
14 1/2 oz. can diced tomatoes
2 T tomato paste
1 T chopped fresh basil, or 1 tsp dried basil
6 oz. ricotta
salt and pepper, to taste

Boil pasta, as described on the package. Meanwhile, place the diced tomatoes and tomato paste in a medium sauce pan. Add the the ricotta and puree with a stick blender until the sauce is smooth (or alternately, combine the tomatoes, paste, and ricotta in a blender and puree before pouring in the sauce pan), and heat through, allowing the cheese to melt and combine with the tomatoes. Add the basil, and salt and pepper to taste. If desired, throw in a handful of baby spinach and let it just wilt from the heat of the sauce; a handful of frozen peas stirred in at the end would be another nice alternative.

When the pasta is ready, spoon it on a plate and top with the tomato sauce. Sprinkle with additional basil, ground pepper, or parmesan.

Source: Slightly adapted from Accidental Hedonist.

Parmesan Popovers

1 C AP flour
2 extra-large eggs
1 C whole milk
2/3 C parmesan
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp herbs de Provence

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a blender, combine all ingredients. Blend on medium speed until combined. Spray a muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray. Pour the batter into the muffin cups, filling each cup 3/4 full. Bake until puffed and golden brown, about 40 minutes. Remove popovers from pan, and cut a slit in the top of each one to allow excess steam to escape, which will keep them from getting soggy. (As an added bonus, slather the insides of the popovers with garlic butter while they’re warm. I make mine with unsalted butter, lots of pan-roasted garlic—toast the cloves in a dry, hot skillet with their skins still on, until the skins brown up in spots, then flatten them with the side of your knife, remove the skins and mash them—some grated parmesan, a good pinch of salt, and a little paprika for color.)

Source: Adapted from Epicurious and Everyday Italian.

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07.01.09

Do You Have the Chops

Posted in Dinner, Dips & Spreads, Lamb, Meats, Pastas, Sides at 4:01 pm by julie

This was a really simple, flavorful way to cook lamb chops, and you know I am always looking for good lamb recipes. I used loin chops, did my usual pan-sear-and-finish-in-the-oven trick, and then tossed more compound butter with hot orzo, peas and some feta to accompany them, a nice alternative to the usual starch options.

Lamb Chops with Sun-Dried Tomato Butter

1 garlic clove
1/4 C chopped sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained
1/2 C walnuts
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 T chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
8 lamb chops (3/4 inch thick; 2 pounds)

Pulse salt, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, walnuts, coriander, cayenne, parsley, and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper until finely chopped. Blend in butter and lemon juice, then season with salt.

Preheat oven to 350F. Pat lamb chops dry and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper (total), and heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Drizzle in a little olive oil, and pan-sear the chops to a nice golden brown on both sides. Transfer to the oven for 5-10 minutes; I bring mine to about 150-155F because I like them closer to medium. Spread tomato butter over chops, and serve with orzo tossed with some extra compound butter, peas and crumbled feta.

Source: Epicurious

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