Babette Feasts

Apple Cheddar Scones

2008-07-02T04:31:00.001-07:00

You'd think the only thing I do is bake these days...not true. In fact, yesterday, I spent hours and hours cooking and photographing (with intrepid cohorts Kumiko and Tya) Indian food. And it was goooooood. But, even though I am a day late? It's still Tuesday again and that means Tuesdays with Dorie!

This week's event: Apple Cheddar Scones. Once again, someone picked something after my own heart, because I pretty much have zero willpower when it comes to sweet/savory combos. So the thought of apples and cheddar really works for me.

I decided to make this Monday morning, but when I opened the fridge, someone (bad bad bad person) had finished all the milk. That meant I couldn't have my daily dose of caffeine (double espresso with 1 cup of skim: my homemade latte). So I quick checked the ingredients list and saw I also didn't have apple juice or dried apples. Nothing the local 24 hour drugstore wouldn't have, right (yes, it was that early; no supermarkets were open). A quick trip garnered me the necessary ingredients (I made my own buttermilk by souring the milk with white vinegar). A bag of really great mixed, dried fruit yielded enough apple slices-dried, yet soft at the same time...I also fell hard for the peaches, which may be what I need to use the next time I make this recipe!

Anyway, yep, as predicted by the commenters at TWD, a very wet dough. I patted it into a relatively neat rectangle....Then used a dough scraper to cut nice, squared scones...except they aren't. I figured I should have just done drop biscuits at this point. Anyway.The scones (do you know in Bath, England, they say "scone" to rhyme with "gone?" No, not many people know that. I am married to a Bath native. Say it to rhyme with gone. Here in this house, anyway...) baked up nicely, really short, melt in your mouth. the moist-yet-dried apples give a hint, but not too much, sweet, and the cheddar is a nice balance. Dorie likes them three minutes out of the oven, so I complied! I added a little extra butter (oh, yes I did!) and then drizzled a bit of honey over it all, too, because I think cheese and honey is one of the best things ever. Enjoy it, folks.

Barefoot Blogging..

2008-06-26T19:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm a little out of order, and hopefully, by the time you are reading this you will have read my posts on baked eggs and on pasta, peas and pesto, but in case you haven't, I've joined another cooking group. I realized Tuesdays with Dorie got me baking once a week..why not try some recipes I wouldn't otherwise taste test? And thanks to my friend, Rachel, who sent me to the Barefoot Blog in the first place (she is a big Barefoot Contessa fan. And she can COOK. Why aren't you cooking with us here, Rachel?). They (we) will be blogging from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa's books...

So to entice my kids to the table, I jumped ahead an made Parmesan Chicken, the Contessa's twist on Chicken Parmesan: great breading with seasoned bread crumbs and freshly grated parm topped with a lemony salad and shaved parmesan. I loved the savory coating paired with the lemony cool salad.

Start with the breading ready to go; the chicken breasts are pounded to about 1/4-inch thickness. I love cutlets like that. Easiest to do in a ziplock bag.
I love using my old Le Creuset cast iron skillet for things like this--nice browning. Thanks, Le Creuset.
For a side we have corn sauteed with a few little strands of hash brown...I stumbled on the combo when I wanted hash brown but only a few measly pieces of potato were left in the bag (who left three pieces of potato in that bag? Oh, me...) Anyway, over low heat with the barest bit of oil, butter and salt? I think it's like candy..it gets this chewy sweetness that is so satisfying.

Great dinner, Contessa.

Wild Berry Cobbler

2008-06-23T20:53:00.000-07:00

Well. I was admittedly a bit taken aback by the comments on the questions posting at TWD--"Bland" "Boring"..."I changed this, I changed that..." Hmm. In the end I was left wondering had anyone actually made THE RECIPE?

The Wild Berry Crumble is one of the most basic recipes...Biscuit topping, mixed berry filling. And reading the recipe for the biscuit topping left my mouth watering for that biscuit. I determined to make it as written since I figured I'd learn something no matter what.

I learned I love plain biscuits.

The topping goes together in minutes. Flour, Baking powder, a bit of sugar and cold butter all bound together by a touch of heavy cream. Roll it out to a rough circle.

The fruit filling uses fresh OR frozen berries...and since it was pounding rain, I decided to go frozen (quel horror!). I had an unopened package of mixed berries, some strawberries and I rounded it out with a few peaches. (Not berries, you say? Okay, mixed fruit.)

The only change (didn't I say I was making it as written? I lied.) was something I always do with pies and such: I brushed the top with cream (sometimes I use egg wash) and sprinkled it with raw sugar.

Oh, I also baked a tiny bit of biscuit--stuff that was just hanging over the edge--up for myself as...well, as a biscuit. I'd whip this up in a heartbeat for morning biscuits.

My only tip is to cook it the full time--I thought it looked brown enough at about 35 minutes, so I took it out only to find it gummy. I put it right back in, cooked it another 20-25, letting it cool completely so the biscuit soaked up the juice.To each his own, but this is my kind of simple dessert. The biscuit complemented the berries and the berries the biscuit. I only wished I'd braved the rain for a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Not that that stopped anyone from enjoying it.

BTW? Makes a great breakfast, too.

Ina's Brownies...

2008-06-18T21:03:00.000-07:00

One of the comments on the TWD (Tuesdays with Dorie for those of you new here) brownies entries from one of the many visitors there was that those Rum Raisin brownies were good, but Ina's were better...Oooh. Them's fighting words. And Rachel, she who bakes, swears by Ina's..and we've discussed them before. We almost always get around to how her husband won't eat them because of the THREE CUPS of walnuts in them..Being a brownie purist, I can empathize, Mike.

So I decided to make Barefoot Contessa's Outrageous Brownies without three cups of walnuts. But first can we just take a moment to discuss the number of people the Contessa's recipes feed? Gazillions. And Ina, gorgeous as she is, is not a rail. Dorie's recipes feed, say, 12. 12 Madeleines. That's all. Dorie? A rail. A gorgeous rail, but...a skinny baker. Who wants 12 madeleines? (Me. All twelve of 'em.) If you've got a single teen in the house, four go to him (hi, Ian!)...Dorie's brownies. 16: that's 16 2x2-inch squares. Ina's Outrageous brownies? A half-sheet tray full....
Just an observation I've had to make.

Back to the brownies. Lots of butter, some unsweetened chocolate. Coffee. Did I say butter? Then you add extra chocolate chips. Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate...Then she says cut them into three by three squares. No thanks. I couldn't eat all of a 2x2 square--
but not because they weren't good. Heh. And not because I didn't try. These are Outrageous. I will def. add these to my mix...

I packed a bag and froze them for Rachel (she was in Costa Rica playing in the sun, poor girl) and marked them with a "Don't Eat!!" They survived, and she got them yesterday. Mike, my fellow brownie purist, gave them pretty high marks, I hear. I think Rachel missed the walnuts.

Barefoot Peas

2008-06-16T17:23:00.000-07:00

The beginning..Ack! Why did I think I posted this already?

Well, with The Contessa's Pasta, Pesto and Peas, we found another winning dish for the family. Of course, as she wrote it--cup and a half of mayo and all--it seemed like such a side dish--a pasta salad for a ladies lunch. And although we are only four at home these days, two of us are Gary and Ian--Husband and Son--and they eat like guys. No little side dish of pasta for them.

So I fiddled. It just so happened that Ian saw Giada doing a pea pasta on Food Network earlier in the day. She'd added sausage and ricotta (which Ian loves since I made that fresh ricotta). So I eliminated the mayo. Added whole milk ricotta (no time to make the real thing, although I did do it a second time when I was at my mom's--didn't even use a thermometer, it is THAT easy). Anyway. Then I browned up half a pound of sweet Italian sausage and added that. Topped it with toasted pine nuts (I love toasting nuts to use in recipes. Better flavor, better texture.)

Total hit.

True to form, this should have fed a gazillion, although the recipe says 12 (I think). And I think she means 12 as a side dish. If I were planning a party, I'd make this amount for about 20. At least.

But that Contessa. She can whip up a dish, can't she?

Great American Bake Sale

2008-06-14T07:59:00.000-07:00

First, thanks to anyone who visits this little blog. I'm having fun with it, and I so appreciate your comments.

I want to encourage everyone here to consider participating in the Great American Bake sale--it's our virtual Bake Sale. The Tuesdays with Dorie crowd has put together a team, and we are encouraging our bakers to donate what they might spend on their weekly recipe to our team's site:
Tuesdays With Dorie Great American Virtual Bake Sale
(Look for the "Make A Gift" link by the thermometer)

Browse the site, too. I am a huge fan of Share Our Strength, an organization with a simple goal: ending childhood hunger in America. I've participated in several of the group's events over the years, and I'm proud that LW of the TWD group jumped on board.

So if you can spare a the equivalent of a couple of cups of mocha lattes from You-Know-Where, head over to the link--it only takes a few minutes.

B

La Palette's Strawberry Tart

2008-06-08T07:54:00.000-07:00

It's always difficult to cook in someone else's kitchen, isn't it? This week I'm visiting my mom in western Pennsylvania, and the woman has one heckuva stocked kitchen...but no food processor and no tart pan. But that would never stop an intrepid Tuesday With Dorie baker, right? First I had to track down the recipe, because I traveled without and the TWD site has wisely chosen NOT to publish recipes anymore. Kudos to LW, the TWD leader, for making the right choice, letting Dorie protect her copyright. There were no hard feelings (Dorie is one gem of a lady.)

I think it's pretty much strawberry season here (long passed in South Florida, where the strawberries were like sugar this year). True enough, my mom has what must have been a lovely quart of strawberries in her fridge...just about to get to the beyond eating stage.

She also keeps the freezer compartment of her fridge at industrial strength temperatures--Absoulte Zero, if I'm not mistaken--so boy did she EVER have frozen butter.

I mixed the pastry by hand (hey, they had to do it that way all the time in the good old days) and pressed it into the shallowest pie dish I could find in her house. (While searching I found the BEST copper oval pan that I think I can use for the next Florida Table photo shoot. Do I dare try to take it back on the plane?).
Back into the Arctic temps for 30 minutes, then bake until golden. Cool completely. And if you dont' have a tart pan? Just pop it out of the pie dish when it's cool. No big deal..

Part of the beauty of this tart is its simplicity. The shell cools, and you top each portion as it's served. This is one of the best ways to showcase the fruit of the season.

Mom didn't have strawberry jam, but she had great raspberry jam and some blackcurrant jam. I mixed the two together, then did as Dorie told: cut a nice slice of crust, spread with jam, top with strawberries...EAT. This qualifies nicely for my penchant for simple desserts. I love shortbread, fresh strawberries are lovely this time of year and the good jam only enhances the flavors. And because it's spread and serve, that shortbread stays beautifully crispy.

Photos will come. I'm out of town without my cable--and at my mom's relatively low-tech house (fixing that soon. She needs a digital camera.).

Popovers

2008-06-04T16:12:00.000-07:00

I recently had to develop a popover recipe and I have to say, there's not much to develop.
The ratio is 2/4/2: 2 cups flour, 4 eggs, 2 cups milk. Want more? 4 cups flour, 8 eggs, 4 cups milk. I read about slight variations (melted butter, leavening, leave the pans cold, get them hot, start them at a high temp, reduce to low)--they were kind of too many. In the end simplest is best (add 1 teaspoon salt to the 2/4/2 recipe, and I bake at 375 for 50 minutes until REALLY golden brown, although your mileage may vary), but I did learn these things while I baked about 6 batches in the past few weeks:

--do not overmix
--a hot pan is good
--do NOT overfill. I made a few batches where I filled the cup nearly full. I think this doesn't give the batter a "wall" to climb to help the popovers pop.
--Absolutely, positively do NOT open the door while these bake.
--Really let them bake until they are dark golden and crusty. Underbake them and they will collapse in on themselves.

One batch I could even SEE them prickling to pop right before my eyes. It was like watching time lapse photography.
I added some Jarlsberg cheese to the batch in the oven now...the photos aren't great because, as noted, I can't open the oven.

But the end shots? Mmm. Eat 'em hot.

If it's Tuesday, it must be brownies...

2008-06-03T03:53:00.000-07:00

That's right, kids, we are back to Tuesdays with Dorie, and today's dish is French Chocolate Brownies...Lots of comments on the TWD website--people don't like raisins, they want to substitute this, change that..but my take is that part of what I am doing here is learning to bake. So for now, I'm following Dorie's recipes.

She says in the notes that this was supposed to be a cake, but when she served it, her guests (in France) exclaimed over the brownies.

So they come together quite easily. Lots of buttah. Soak the raisins in rum (I like that). Bittersweet, not semi, chocolate (I used Lindt 70%. Mmm.)..

The brownies cook a long time (50 to 60 minutes--I went 60)...The top crackles--typically a sign of overmixing, but these are NOT overmixed (Dorie even spells out how long to mix each step)...Cool, cut and eat.

I have to say I had a hungry family dying to know when they could eat the brownies...so we enjoyed our first bites quite warm. I thought. Okay. Good...But then they sat all night. These are fudgy and dense. And great cold.

I'm kind of a brownie purist, so I'm not crazy about the raisins in them, but hey, if you are going to put something in, rum raisins seem to be a great choice to me...

Fresh Ricotta

2008-06-02T11:14:00.000-07:00

So JES, the owner of JES publishing, came by my desk the other day and handed me the NYT section with a piece about fresh ricotta (Suddenly Ricotta's a Big Cheese, NYT, 28 May 2008). I couldn't resist it.

Although I had a long day to travel to another client's place on the west coast of Florida, on my ride back, all I could think about was making fresh ricotta. To the point I called Ian so he could read me then text me the ingredients for the ricotta and for the pasta recipe included in the story (Pasta with Tomato Broth, Bacon, Peas and Ricotta--In fact, that was the day I sent a note about bacon to Twitter).

Fresh ricotta was surprisingly easy with a recipe from Michael Chiarello: --1/2 gallon whole milk mixed with 2 cups buttermilk. Heat over high, stirring, to 175 degrees (stirring until it starts to steam; yes, I use a candy thermometer). Spoon the curds into a cheesecloth (he says ladle; a slotted spoon seemed to make more sense to me...) and let drain first five minutes, gather the cloth up, then let rest another 15 minutes. You get 2 cups of smooth, creamy--and, yes, bland--spread--but it is a fresh addition to other things. (Is it a deal? I dunno. I spent $4 on half a gallon of organic whole milk and another $1.50 (more or less) on the buttermilk. Perhaps not a deal, but very well worth it...) Here is a photo of the end result.

I made the pasta with bacon and peas, as noted. You dollop a nice amount of the fresh, soft ricotta onto the hot pasta, then stir it into the sauce and grate some fresh parm on top. Ian went wild for that pasta...I want to add that the color photo in the NYT makes the peas look more like edamame...and I wish I'd had cavatelli, which is between gnocchi and a pasta.

The other recipe (I'll have to make more; I gave the remaining ricotta to JES since it was all at his inspiration) in the NYT is for crostini with ricotta, fresh thyme and dried oregano. Okay, guess I'll have to make some more fresh ricotta.

No, We can't order pizza out...

2008-05-31T00:01:00.000-07:00

Ugh. I get so tired of the cost of pizza out, although, I must admit to loving Anthony's Coal-fired Pizza here in Weston, and now we've got Pizza Fusion, a very cool, all-green concept (and a good one: growing by leaps and bounds)...

So when Bryn asked for pizza ordered in the other night, I just said NO. Let's make it. For pennies. I used Carole Bloom's Italian Baker book, which I've mentioned before. This is a nice recipe, easy to do within a couple of hours. I had some San Marzano tomatoes. Unfortunately I didn't have any mozzarella. I dug out a bit of grated cheddar and I always have parm, so I got some freshly grated action going there...Easy.

For the second pie, I went for the focaccia --rolled it out, brushed it with oil and sprinkled it with great sea salt, fresh rosemary, black pepper and more freshly grated parmesan...Oh, I almost forgot: my secret ingredient for any pizza--I whisk up some anchovy paste with great olive oil and I brush that on the crust before anything else gets there. Anyway, the plain bread with olive oil and herbs disappeared it was that loved.

For the REALLY great news? The pizza stone I thought I MUST have left in the oven of the old apartment? I found it in the garage. I am so happy--it's now at home in the oven, where it will stay until we move again..

Herb Baked Eggs a la Contessa

2008-05-28T18:03:00.000-07:00

Tonight I cooked from my Barefoot Blogging group--Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Herb Baked Eggs...shirred eggs in other places, oeufs en cocotte in France. en France, oui?

This recipe proves that great ingredients are the root of all good. A bit of cream and butter heated under the broiler.
Two eggs cracked into the dishes and topped with a mixture of fresh thyme, rosemary, garlic, parsley and freshly grated parmesan. Salt and pepper (I used sel gris from The Meadow--wonderful Mark Bitterman sent me a sampler. I love salt.)

Back under the broiler. Enjoy with great slice of buttered toast. I admit to only doing two eggs (three seemed like so much), and I think they cooked faster than the three would--they got hard, but I'm not complaining bec. I love eggs so much, but how much more luxurious these must be with runny yolks. I'll be trying this recipe again...soon. It makes a simple and delicious supper for a busy night.

Make-up recipe: Brown Sugar Pecan Shortbreads..

2008-05-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

Shortbreads are probably one of my favorite cookies. What's not to like: butter, sugar, and just enough flour to hold them together. This recipe from Dorie, the Brown Sugar Pecan Shortbreads, appeals to that Pecan Sandy lover in me...I am making an earlier Tuesdays with Dorie recipe because I already made the brioche sticky buns: you can see my brioche here AND my brioche sticky buns here. I made those almost the minute I had the book in my hand.

They are in the oven baking even as I type...She said a pinch of clove, and I might have put more than a pinch in: I can smell the cloves, which makes me think I was over zealous. We'll see.

Also, can we discuss how much I dislike the stooooopit silicone hot pads I use? They are awkward, you cannot feel anything through them: heat OR the cookies you ruin by clumsily grabbing the cookie pan...(see here--that cookie missing its edge? It got destroyed by one of those pads...)
I have to either get rid of them, always use my dish towels (the cotton ones, not the microfiber ones: those melt. Trust me on that.)...or just my tongs, which probably are my answer...

At any rate, I did as Dorie told. I didn't over mix. This is key. I rolled them out in a zip-lock bag (very clever), although I think I may have rolled a bit thinner near the edges than 1/4-inch. Once chilled, it was simplicity itself to measure and cut...and since I'm learning to bake, I'm learning to be a bit compulsive about getting it right...I even used the ruler (that's from Barbados with cool Bajan stamps...say Bajan with a hard "j", not the "h" sound you might think...I love that the locals call themselves Bajans. I digress...) Of course, since I didn't roll out perfectly, I got some less-than-perfect shortbread squares.

I would say I probably baked them a titch too long and yes, if truth be told, one shake of clove should have been enough. But now they are clove brown sugar pecan shortbreads.

Things could be worse.

As for the taste tests: all is well. I make shortbread at Christmas every year, and as I enjoy this with a glass of red wine, I think Dorie is on to something with that not overmixing: these are melt in your mouth.

Can't wait to bake again.

Proust, Madeleines...and Me

2008-05-20T17:21:00.000-07:00

Well, it's gotten so I am pretty much really looking forward to my Tuesdays with Dorie Baking sessions. This week the chosen recipe was classic Madeleines...Mmmm. Butter, a hint of lemon, nothing fussy. Right up my ally. Of course, the variations Dorie names look pretty enticing, too: Earl Grey, Lavender, Rosemary/orange, spiced and FLUFF FILLED CHOCOLATE MADELEINES...Sorry, did I yell that? Dorie likens it to a Hostess cupcake, and while that may be a stretch (no disprespect to Hostess, just more kudos to Dorie for being modest), I think that may be an interim experiment. Who knew? All of a sudden, I am a baker.

Once again, the recipe is simple, ingredients happen to be things I actually have in my cupboard. No special trips needed, not even for the pan, if you can believe it. Florida Table did a pumpkin Madeleine last fall and I bought (and didn't expense, in case anyone from the magazine is reading!) a silicone Madeleine pan...(mine is not quite this one, but you get the idea)...my only piece of silicone..I'd say it came in handy in this case because of the ease with which the mads fell out of the pan...but I'm getting ahead of myself.

First, the simple ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, lemon zest, eggs, vanilla and melted butter.

Whisk, mix, then this difficult instruction: let it sit for at least three hours. Mine sat overnight, so bright and early Sunday morning, I was baking. Isn't my family special?

You can see I was a bit zealous filling one or two of the molds, but mostly it was all good.

This photo shows that mound that Dorie says is what all those hours resting in the fridge do for the batter....

My pan is for eight. The recipe is for 12. What is up with that??? But it was the easiest thing in the world to give them a gentle push and to pop them out of the pan.

Mmmm. Mounds of Madeleines. Four went to my friend's son, Michael, who likes Madeleines above all else. I hope you liked these better than that famous coffee house's mads, you know the place, it starts with an S and ends with bucks...Say these were better, Michael, or no more baked goods come your way!!!

Mmm. Proust, Madeleines and me...now where is that copy of Proust I had lying around here? Oh, forget it. Just me and my Madeleines...

Florida Pie: My Tuesday With Dorie Session

2008-05-10T10:42:00.000-07:00

This week's Tuesday with Dorie baking project is called Florida Pie, which is key lime pie with a twist from
Dorie--she adds coconut in the form of a coconut cream (heavy cream cooked down with coconut). She says you can substitute regular limes, but not here in Florida, right? That would be some form of heresy, especially when key limes are so easy to get here (and mostly imported from Mexico these days, by the way...)

I keep being surprised by how easy Dorie makes the recipes...Easy steps, the right order...I
started with the crust--homemade, even though in the notes, Dorie says she buys store-bought, but that wasn't going to cut it, especially after my pebble Oreo crust last week. I did the graham crackers in the processor (I guess it's not THAT hard to clean, right?)...Bake and freeze, except I have a side-by-side fridge/freezer in this apartment. This has to be the stupidest invention ever (GE? Are you hearing me? No more side by sides, really.)--my pie plate wouldn't fit into the freezer-until I tilted it and forced it...

Once I got the crust into the freezer, I turned to juicing a pound of key limes...(that would make about 1 1/4 cups juice)...Here is my mise en place...I don't think I made any measuring errors this week.

Reducing the cream with coconut in it, then letting it cool...moving on to whipping the yolks with the sweetened condensed milk and juice..Coconut cream onto the bottom of the crust, topped with the yolk and lime juice custard. Bake 12 minutes...Cool slightly, return to freezer...

The meringue is interesting--Dorie has you cook it (for safety's sake, I am sure) then whip it to stiff peaks. Gently fold in remaining coconut

I am taking the pie to a get together this evening, but in the line of duty to the blog, we took a slice out of it...you know, to photograph it...well, and..you know, to taste it. My cutting skills need work, I guess...but that first piece is always tough!

Anyway, Ian, Bryn and I shared the tastes of that first piece...An excellent key lime pie, we all agreed. I love the texture--and the taste--of the coconut in this pie, but I find myself wishing I'd toasted the coconut for the meringue instead of stirring it into the the meringue...next time, that will be the way I make it (I DO have all that extra key lime juice, after all...maybe I'll have to make it to take into the magazine again...)

Dorie's Peanutbutter Torte

2008-05-06T05:16:00.000-07:00

Wow. This is rich and decadent and so good. If you love Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, you will adore this...and for me, the non-baker, it's not even really baking. This is this week's Tuesdays with Dorie achievement (anything I bake is an achievement, trust me on this).

Of course, I managed to not make it look like the photo in Dorie's Book. First of all, I have an 8-inch spring form pan. You don't THINK it will make so much difference, but that's a lot of volume (you do the math; I didn't understand 7th grade math until I was 40, but then the boys moved on to more difficult stuff and I forgot everything again). Second of all, she says either crush the Oreos for the crust by hand (that's what I said--an OREO cookie crust. How cool is that?) OR with a food processor. Because we all know how much I don't like cleaning the food processor, I crushed by hand. My crust is not so so much a crumb crust as a cookie pebble crust. How very Flintstone.

Taking it out of the springform was easy (thank goodness I've moved that pan from NYC to Philadelphia to KY to the first apartment in Florida to the second apartment here in Florida. I just knew I would need it!). I had to alter the topping a bit because even though I asked two different people in the house (one husband, one son) if they could stop and buy me a measly cup of heavy cream for the ganache topping, neither one remembered...So instead I stirred a touch of melted butter into the chocolate to give me something spreadable that won't turn brittle in the fridge...It works. (Not like I was saving calories at this point...)

But that doesn't mar the flavor. A bite of heaven. This and a cup of good espresso is on the menu for my afternoon break. Life is good.

(The picture shows how challenged I am with the whole crust thing...but I like its "rough" form...forget pebble crust. When cut, this looks like boulder crust...still tastes great. Lucky office workers at Florida Table, because this is so NOT staying in my house for me to eat. I should be everyone's favorite!)

Local Clams Do The Double

2008-05-04T16:00:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, I was lucky enough to score about 10 pounds of freshly caught clams at The Olde Fish House in Matlacha on Pine Island, off the west coast of Florida. I'll post about the woderful owners, Jessi and Tom, later, but today, I am all about my clams.

I knew I wanted pasta and clam sauce from those clams...I called my sister. The last time I'd made clam sauce was at her house from one of her books with clams I'd bought at Grand Central's market. Pat and her husband, Sushil, have made Double Clam sauce more than once...I scribbled ingredients and methods...

Then turned to the task at hand.

Great clams. good olive oil, butter, fresh parsley, pasta cooked to perfection. But it melds plenty of garlic, olive oil, butter and white wine with the clams--some chopped, some still in their shells, which makes it double clam. It's a keeper of a recipe.

Ten pounds of clams makes enough for 8 to 10 people, but I couldn't entice a soul to my dinner table--so sad.

So I enjoyed it all on my own with a lovely Summers Estate 2007 Le Nude Chardonnay ($24), an unoaked, stainless steel aged wine with crisp flavors that matched the clam dish perfectly.

I like my clam sauce with great Parmesan, what can I say? There was enough juice when I was done for it to be mopped up with a piece of sourdough bread. Life is good. Next time, you are all welcome to join me!

Do The Double Clam Sauce for Pasta (Enough for 8 to 10 people...if they choose to join you for dinner)

10 pounds clams in shells, cleaned
24 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cups white wine
1 cup pasta water
2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1 stick butter
1 cup parsley, chopped
2 pounds linguini

1. Place half the clams into a stock pot with half the garlic, 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/2 cup wine. Bring all to a boil, and reduce to simmer, steaming until all clams open (discard any clams that do not open). Remove clams from pot. Strain and reserve cookng liquid. Chop clams and set aside.
2. In separate pot, bring water to boil. Add linguini and cook until just al dente.
3. While pasta is cooking, return first pot to medium heat. Add remaining olive oil, remaining garlic and white wine and red pepper flakes. Add remaining clams in shell and 1 cup pasta water plus the reserved liquid used to make the chopped clams. Bring all to boil, reduce to simmer and cook until clams open. Stir in butter and parsley, and cook until butter is melted.
4. To serve, place portion of pasta in shallow bowl. Top with about 8 to 10 clams in shells. Use ladle to add sauce to bowl. Pass with cheese for grating (for those of you who break all the rules the way I do...) and bread to mop up any remaining sauce.

Babette Learns to Bake

2008-04-30T19:20:00.000-07:00

I already mentioned--in the brioche threads--that I had the enormous pleasure of meeting Dorie Greenspan, baker extraordinaire. She mentioned a great group of bakers who are doing Tuesdays with Dorie, where someone selects a recipe from her book, Baking From My Home to Yours. I've always wanted to improve my baking skills (forget that I once worked as a pastry chef at a fine hotel in Louisville, KY. I was the best? Sheesh. I gave two weeks notice two weeks in...the shift was 11 PM to 7 AM. I was three months preggers with Bryn. Nuff said. And I digress.)

Anyway I joined. Then read the recipe for marshmallows...even went and got good corn syrup. And didn't make them. Then the carrot cake recipe came..and went. Then I got an email. From the boss of Tuesdays with Dorie. PARTICIPATE. What could I say? The site is only as strong as its bakers, right?

So when the Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake recipe landed in my box yesterday (or Monday?), I vowed to bake. You know, the way I WANTED to bake. The way I wanted to LEARN to bake. This was a good way for me to start. I love Italian cheesecake with polenta. I love love LOVE corn meal. This had the added goodness of mission figs.

I got started. 16 figs for the recipe. 1 for me. MMmmmm. Fig Newtons got NOTHING on a straight up fig.

The tart comes together easily, really. No rocket science. I measured well (okay, let's not talk about me almost--ALMOST--forgetting the regular flour. Ahem.), mixed well, followed directions well.

The results? Spectacular. Really. I'd probably like this just as well without the figs, to be honest. I had to bake it a bit longer than the directions instructed, but I liked the way it looked when it came out...the knife came out clean...There's still an incredible moistness to the cake...We love it...I think my family doesn't know the treat they are in for on (or about) Tuesdays. With Dorie.

Elegant, Ethereal Eggs

2008-04-30T15:02:00.001-07:00

I've been on a protein-in-the-morning kick for a few months now, and eggs are my breakfast of choice.

I recently had the very good fortune of meeting someone who is bringing farm fresh eggs to South Florida...She brought me six lovely eggs, which come from a farm in central Florida.....

I read a book awhile back called The Perfectionist: Life and Death in Haute Cuisine by Rudolph Chelminski. It was a bit of a downer about a chef in France who gets so dispondent about keeping his Michelin stars that he ends up taking his own life...but for someone who loves food, it was a fascinating look into his life. It consumed him. How appropriate.

At any rate, in that book, there's a reference back to a passage from a classic French tome about making eggs...None of this scramble til set order. The whole set of instructions has you treating the egg with finesse. I think they made a fried egg, but I adapted the method for my own scrambled eggs. The tips: Low heat. A touch of butter. Eggs that are white and yellow. Scramble gently until just set. Finish with salt. Good salt.

Here's how:

1/2 teaspoon butter
2 eggs
sprinkle of good salt

In a small, non-stick pan, melt the butter over just below medium heat. When melted, swirl butter around the pan. Crack the eggs directly into the pan (when I was in West Virginia, I learned this is country scrambled eggs...who knew?). Don't touch the eggs until you see the white start to set. Then with a wooden spoon, stir gently to break up the yolks. Continue stirring gently until the eggs are just set--they should still be glistening. Sprinkle salt over all. Enjoy without delay.

Definition of Brioche

2008-04-12T11:34:00.001-07:00

Brioche, noun. (bree-osh) Butter held together by bits of flour, yeast and egg.

When I toasted a slice this morning, it sizzled all on its own.

That's all. Just an observation.

Beautiful Brioche: The Finale

2008-04-11T11:30:00.000-07:00

Wow. It was one baking morning. As noted below, after an early start, I had the loaf rising and the sticky buns rolled, cut and rising by about 7.45 a.m. The sticky buns were a definite success.

I did as I was told--egg wash, baked at 400. I cannot believe how lovely this turned out. As I said elsewhere, every time I make bread--even something that sounds as daunting as brioche--I wonder why I don't do it more often. Sure, this brioche recipe has 12 ounces of butter in it (that means the little loaf has half that--6 ounces..I started slicing very thin slices once I realized that...), but that's the only expensive ingredient in it...even a plain, Publix baguette costs me $1. I'd say the extra bit of money for this particular loaf? Worth it.

The bread is so rich--you SO taste the butter--I am happy eating it all by itself. A brioche purist, that's me. I could picture it with some bitter orange marmalade, though...Or I'd like to try the bostock Dorie mentions...spread stale brioche (who gets a loaf to last til it's stale?) slices with almond cream, sprinkle with sliced almonds, bake until the almond cream is puffy and hot.

But I don't think it will last long enough.

Brioche Beautiful Part 2

2008-04-11T05:50:00.000-07:00

I woke at 7.15. Visions of brioche and pecan sticky buns by way of Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours invaded my mind...I knew I had a lunch to go to with a food professional, and I have a feeling she's bringing me some farm-fresh eggs. I don't want to show up empty handed. Brioche will be my gift.

So, I was anticipating a sticky mess--but I forgot what butter does in the fridge...it hardens. So the dough was extraordinarily easy to handle. I divided it. Half is for a loaf, the other half for sticky buns. (What? What diet?) And I divided the sticky bun dough in half again, making 8 today, then rolling the other half for the freezer. One day I'll be able to take that little spiral out of the freezer at 10 p.m. and wake up to bake fresh brioche sticky buns. I am wonder woman, I am Supermom.

Let's see. The sticky buns go in about an hour and 45 minutes after prepping. The loaf, about 2 hours later...Look at my results...

And I will vouch for the taste (hey, it's in the job description: eat). A big complaint I had with a batch of sticky buns I made relatively recently was that the bread part itself was leaden. Why bother with that gooey goodness if the bread is like a rock? Well, this brioche sticky bun recipe absolutely knocks that problem out of the park. They are melt-in-your-mouth, buttery lightness. I've eaten half of one bun. 7 1/2 brioche pecan sticky buns are now staring me in the face. I'm watching out the window for my neighbor to come home so I can give her some (my town is such a pain. All the women are on "social x-ray" diets, to borrow that phrase from Tom Wolfe. But at least my neighbor has two little girls...)..then I'll be able to take a couple to the woman I'm meeting for lunch...then if I'm really inspired, I'm going to drive to Boca to deliver the remaining few to the great people at JES Publishing/Florida Table offices. They'll help me salvage my own nutritional crisis...

On to the brioche loaf...

Brioche Beautiful Part 1

2008-04-10T19:02:00.000-07:00

Dorie Greenspan is a delight. I had the incredible good fortune of meeting her recently at The Greenbrier. In fact, I had the funny and near-silly experience of sharing a bar of Vosges Chocolate Bacon bar with her. Picture about 10 avid food writers, food literature readers, food magazine editors...I think it was Dorie who did the honors of breaking it into pieces for everyone to experience. It was passed around the table like a communion plate. We all took a shard of chocolate...Then someone read the near zen-like instructions from Vosges on how to enjoy the chocolate...At one point we all had our eyes closed...no sounds were being made...and then you couldn't keep us quiet...because of COURSE we all had opinions. (For the record, we didn't like the chewy texture of the bacon left in our mouths when we let the chocolate melt first...some of us liked it more when we chewed right into it, releasing salty, smoky, sweet all at once...)

But this post isn't about the chocolate. It's about my discovery: Dorie's Brioche. I got the lowdown from the insiders: The Brioche is to die for. And the sticky pecan buns--to die for a second time...So when my signed copy of Dorie's Baking: From My Home to Yours arrived in the mail (no way I was dragging those pounds and pounds of books home on the plane...), I had to get started on the brioche.

I knew enough that the process would be easier if I made the dough the day before...Clever me: I'll throw it together at 10 PM and get it right into the fridge. Mmmhmmm.

Like any bread, the ingredient list is short. Yeast, water, milk, flour, salt, sugar, eggs and butter. Lots of butter. But it is lovely. Once again, Kitchenaid comes to the rescue. When discussing this with Dorie, her first question was: Do you have a mixer? Apparently her first experience was with this dough, a wooden spoon and her aching shoulders. At any rate, it starts as an ugly, mealy dough.

Then the eggs go in and it looks a bit better. And then you start beating the butter in, about 2 tablespoons at a time. Here's me holding the mixer to keep it from walking itself off the counter as it works that dough...
When all is said and done, you are left with a glossy, silken mass of dough.
It is gorgeous (I happily had about 1/2 pound of lovely, yellow Irish butter on my counter to use here...)

Oh, back to my cleverness...First punch down: after one hour. Then every 30 minutes or so FOR THE NEXT TWO HOURS. Until it stops rising. And THEN you get to go to bed...I mean and THEN you get to put it in the fridge (and go to bed...)

It will be a late night...This last shot is of the dough rising on the back porch, where it's warmer.
Just did the first punch down..The dough is just so nice to touch...Do you think anyone else is out on her balcony punching down brioche dough? Now it's 12.43 a.m. Do you know where your brioche is?

Tortillas just like Mama would make...

2008-03-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

I'm a corn person. Aside from everything Michael Pollan writes about in his book, Omnivore's Dilemma, where he says we really are the corn people...I'm saying I really AM a corn person.
One of my cravings when I was pregnant with my first child was for this corn pasta at Arizona 206 in NYC. I learned to love those fried corn kernels when I was in Spain. Polenta? Check. Cornbread? Check. Grits? Of course: the polenta of the South. Hominy? Right again. Okay, so do you get it?

I mentioned in another post that I've been prowling through Rick Bayless's recipes. He encourages people to make tortillas at home at least once in their lives, and boy, what good advice. First of all, it's not that difficult. It's cheap. And the end results are great for someone like me: the corn lover.

I advise you to follow all of Rick's advice here. He gets almost painfully descriptive with the instructions, which can be a bit tedious, but the end result is that he leaves nothing to wonder about. I've made two batches so far: one was most definitely dry, the second batch far better. I saw the tortillas puff up the way he describes and I put them into a cloth-lined basket to steam while I made the whole batch.

Pressing the masa with my new toy.

Trying to grill batch one...

We ate them with a variation on one of his chicken recipes and with some homemade guacamole, which Bryn is becoming quite adept at whipping up (adept enough at it that she has challenged Auntie Pat, my sister, to a guac competition come this summer when we all meet up in Colorado. Dueling guacs...)

This photo is batch two; the little lift you see is because my tortillas are puffing up just the way they are supposed to. The final photo is the finished product, all nestled into a nice cotton towel in a basket...My favorites were the ones with the most char on them...

Barb's Winning Guacamole

3 avocados
1 clove garlic, minced
2 heaping tablespoons salsa (drained if it is juicy)
juice of one lime
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons minced red onion

Peel and pit avocados, place them in bowl. Add garlic, salsa, lime, cilantro, onion and salt and pepper. Use a fork to mix/chop ingredients. Some lumps of avocado should be left. EAT. (To keep this for any length of time in the fridge, cover the guacamole by placing plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the guacamole. It will be gone faster than that anyway, but just in case...)

Authentic Mexican with Rick Bayless's Help

2008-02-16T06:02:00.000-08:00

For another project, I recently had to go visit a few muy mexicano supermarkets. I wandered the aisles and was enticed..and frankly, aren't we all just a little bit tired of fajitas? We get it already: sizzle plate, greasy meat, veggies to fill you up and enough sour cream and cheese to hide any ..."sub-par" ingredients.

Rick Bayless, who owns Frontera Grill in Chicago (among others), has really become an authority on authentic Mexican tastes. I have long owned one of his original books, Authentic Mexican--Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico, but I picked up Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen the other day, a Julia Child Book of the Year Award winner-which I bought when I couldn't find his most recent book, Mexican Everyday. (you can find all of his books here.) Bayless still goes straight for the heart of Mexican flavors, but he also clues people in to making adjustments for their own American kitchen, little subsections he titles "Simple Ideas from My American Home." These are little twists on the authentic, original recipe.

I couldn't wait to try somthing, so I opted for a simple-sounding Tacos of Tomatillo Chicken with wilted greens and fresh cheese. Here in South Florida, these ingredients are readily available in my local, non-specialty supermarket (it's Publix for me). Roast the tomatillos, blend them (using my favorite immersion blender from Kitchenaid), then add sauteed onions and garlic, blend a bit more. Cook this down with some broth--add greens (I cheated--I was tired, cooking this up around 8 p.m., and hungry, so I used 1/2 package of frozen spinach) to the sauce and stir in 1 1/3 cups shredded, cooked chicken (my single complaint so far: I'd rather see him use weight measurements there...)...Steam a few small corn tortillas (the soft, pliable kind that are only about 4 inches across)...fill each with a heaping tablespoon of the chicken and greens mixture, top with crumbled queso fresco. The result was a fresh, tasty and satifsying dish--three tacos almost filled me up, so I had a fourth. He suggests a party meal of a bunch of these tacos paired with black bean soup, a casual, delicious, fun way to go, I would agree.

I only wish I'd read his suggestion in the notes preceeding the recipe: "I encourage you to make a double or triple batch of sauce, so you can freeze the extra for another meal." I need to pay more attention, because I would SO like to have this in my freezer as a quick meal. You cook it until the step where you add the greens and the chicken, although I think the greens would probably freeze well, too. A great way to use up the second day of a roast chicken, don't you think?