Nice and slow

I just a slow cooker.  For those of you who grew up in the mid-west, or in a family of home cooks, its also called a crockpot.  My mother's had a red brick pattern on it that reminded me of the 70's.  Which is probably when she got it.  Probably as a wedding present.  I have to admit a little bias here.  I love my mother's cooking, but it always reminded me of a farm.  Not in a bad way, but in a down-home, rustic sort of way.  I spent most of my adult life moving in the exact opposite direction.  Living in a foreign country, eating things like foie gras and escargot, learning to cook veal Prince Orloff (with 2 different stuffings), living in a glass and stone penthouse apartment, traveling the world, and generally trying to be more worldly than my mother's cooking.  And I'm certainly not saying the I've abandoned the desire to spend my days overlooking the Med and eating caviar and blinis (or at least quite a few days doing that) but I suppose I've started to see some of the value in rustic food.  And maybe even that sense of farm land and family and permanence.  After all, a slow cooker is a pretty permanent investment.  It takes up a lot of space on your counter, and if my mother's is any indication, this thing will last forever.  I'll be slow cooking the cockroaches that are left after the apocalypse.  As long as they have some good red wine to braise them with, I think we'll be fine.

However, since we aren't at the end of the world and I do have more options than cockroaches, I've decided to make chicken in a white wine, garlic, and thyme sauce.  The smells coming from the kitchen actually remind me of a farmhouse in Burgundy.  I think that's probably the right level of combination for me.  A little homey and a little exotic, all mixed up in my own kitchen.  Now, I think I'll enjoy my glass of American Chardonnay and pet my French Bulldog while I wait for dinner to be done.

Chicken in Wine in a Slow Cooker
1 C wine (or 2 cups, start with 1 for yourself)
1/3 C flour
1 1/2 t thyme
1/2 onion
4 garlic cloves
4 chicken breasts
1T olive oil

Salt and pepper chicken.  Make sure the wine is the right level of slightly oaked and slightly grassy.  Taste again just to make sure.  Brown the chicken in olive oil.  If your slow cooker has this function too, use it.  I'm all for keeping cooking juices in the same pot.  Are you sure the wine is right?  Better check again.  Take the chicken out.  Lay onion, garlic, and thyme on the bottom of the slow cooker.  Put the chicken on top.  Mix the wine and the flour together and pour on top of the chicken.  Put on the lid and set to cook for a few hours.  Maybe until its dinner time.  Taste the wine again.  Freak out that you forgot to change the setting from "brown" to "slow cook for a long time."  Adjust to slow cook.  Take a couple sips of wine while you try to figure out when you husband will come home and want to eat.  Decide that you should cook it for 5 hours so it will be ready you want to eat.  Take another sip of wine.  Make sure you have an extra bottle in the fridge, because its always nice to drink what you cooked the meal in.

So this is brunch?

A lazy Sunday brunch, on a sunny day, with mimosas and friends.  Doesn't get much better than that.  Plus the nice thing about Sunday brunch is that you don't have to get a baby sitter, just some kid friendly food and a room that they can more or less safely dismantle.  So we invited 3 families in our neighborhood over for Sunday brunch.  Amazingly the house withstood the 7 kids, all under the age of 10.  And the cooking was actually pretty simple.  Well, except for the homemade croissants, which I had to start 3 days in advance and use a bulldozer to roll all the butter into.  But otherwise it was pretty simple.

Menu:

• Mimosas
• Blood Mary's
• Croissants, with butter and jam
• Sticky Buns (made with croissant dough)
• Ham and guyere quiche
• Bacon
• Sausage
• Waffles (for the kids)
• Fresh fruit (so we could all pretend like we ate something healthy)

I was most proud of the croissants and sticky buns.  The dough took 3 days, and lots and lots of rolling.  But they turned out the perfect fluffy layered croissants that I've had in Paris.  Of course they were about 50% butter by weight.  But hey, its not like I make them every week.  The quiche was kind of made up.  Quiche is a great brunch food because its savory and eggy, but unlike omelets and scrambled eggs it doesn't taste so bad if it isn't perfectly warm.  And it went pretty well with the vaguely French theme that seemed to crop up as I planned out the menu.  Which is good because cooking for 15 people, 7 of which are picky by nature, is no small feat especially for a Sunday morning.

As usual, we all gathered in the kitchen for drinks and then the 3-ring circus of feeding the 7 kids.  Afterward we sat down to what was a very nice brunch.  It ended a little earlier than I was expecting, and there was only 1 bottle of champagne and 2/3 bottle of vodka consumed, so it was a pretty mild event. But I am pregnant, so its not as if I was able to contribute.  I ate extra croissants to make up for it.  I can't wait for the next one.

Ham and Guyere Quiche (approximately)

1 round pre-made pie crust (refrigerated type)

1/2 medium onion, chopped in 1/2in pieces

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 lb thinly sliced smoked ham, diced

6 oz Gruyère, coarsely grated (1 cup)

2 oz Italian Fontina, coarsely grated (2/3 cup)

3 large eggs

2/3 cup sour cream

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375.  Bake pie crust for 8-10 minutes until golden brown.  Cool pie crust but leave oven on.  Saute onion in butter until golden and caramelized.   Whisk eggs, pepper, and nutmeg.  Stir in ham, cheese, and caramelized onions.  Pour the mixture into the prepared pie crust and put back in the oven.  Check part way through and cover crust with aluminum foil if it becomes too dark or dry.  Bake for a total of 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours or until center is set.  Serve warm or room temperature.

That's It! Right There!

I found it.  The sweet spot.  The perfect combination.  I've been trying for a couple years to find the perfect sourdough recipe recipe.  Its partly the right starter and its partly the recipe.  Recipes with just starter, flour, and water are a little bland.  So after searching and trying and growing what probably amounts to gallons of sourdough starter, I found the right combo of richness (milk and sugar in the dough) that still lets the sour starter show through.


One note about sourdough bread.  People will think you are crazy.  Apparently it was standard in California kitchens about a century to century and a half ago that you could always find sourdough starter bubbling.   However, in this modern day of making sure everything is hermetically sealed and preserved beyond recognition, having something bubbling, growing, and smelling sour on your countertop will make people worry about your sanity and the cleanliness of your kitchen.  Perhaps talking to it and feeding it periodically doesn't help the matter........  But really, its the best way to get good sourdough.  And there is nothing better than hot sourdough straight from the oven with a good smear of butter.  Real butter.


San Francisco Sourdough Bread

• 4 3/4 cups bread flour
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm milk
• 2 tablespoons margarine, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sourdough starter
• 1 extra large egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• 
  

1. In a large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, sugar, salt, and dry yeast. Add milk and softened butter or margarine. Stir in starter. Mix in up to 3 3/4 cups flour gradually, you may need more depending on your climate.
2. Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and knead for 8 to 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turn once to oil surface, and cover. Allow to rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in volume.
3. Punch down, and let rest 15 minutes. Shape into loaves. Place on a greased baking pan. Allow to rise for 1 hour, or until doubled.
4. Brush egg wash over tops of loaves.
5. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 30 minutes, or till done.

In the kitchen

Why is it that when you have a party everyone ends up in the kitchen?   It never fails.  We had our house warming party last weekend.  About 20 people, lots of new neighbors and great fun.  We cleaned the whole house, had a ton of food in the dining room, nicely arranged the chairs and tables in the living room.......  And everyone ended up in the kitchen.  Its probably because it allows for the most table room to set glasses, or the most mingling because people are standing and moving.  Or, most likely, because that is where the drinks are.  In a nod to our previous Christmas's in Germany we served hot Gluhwein.  Plus mulled cider.

My big accomplishment for the party was my mom's chocolate coconut balls and a completely invented eggnog cheesecake in chocolate cups.  Trey's big accomplishment was cleaning up the enormous mess I left in the kitchen from above mentioned treats.  I also made the savory cheesecake with caramelized onions that I think I've blogged about before.  The rest was pretty standard crudites with a garlic and dijon dip, ham with sandwich fixings, cheese plate, meat plate, cookies, a few more cookies, and last but not least more cookies.  As a matter of fact, I think there are so many cookies, cakes, pies, and candies in this house that I'm getting a sugar high through osmosis.

And then follow that up with family in town so of course I had to make a gingerbread cake with cream cheese icing.  Its pretty sad when the cashier at the grocery store recognizes you, looks in your basket, and shakes her head disapprovingly.  And then you remember that she was the one that checked you out earlier in the week, when you again had 5 lbs. of sugar and 2 lbs. of butter in your cart.  Sigh.  Even the cashier at the grocery store thinks I have too much sugar in my house.

So, here are some of the recipes I've made lately.  Please, please, please come take some of this off my hands!  And when you do, could you bring a candy thermometer?   My bourbon caramels just aren't coming out right......

Eggnog Cheesecake Candies
Pre-made chocolate shells (about 2 dozen)
1/2 C Store Bought Eggnog
3/4 C Cream Cheese, room temperature
1/4 C Powdered Sugar

Place eggnog, cream cheese, and sugar into a bowl.  Pour an extra glass of eggnog.  Whip eggnog, cream cheese, and powdered sugar until thick.  Refill glass of eggnog.  Stiff peaks should appear and hold their shape.  If too wet, add more cream cheese and powdered sugar.  If too thick, add more eggnog, and refill glass of eggnog.  Pipe into chocolate shells.  Chill.  Contemplate the amount of eggnog you just drank.  Wish it had more alcohol in it.  (or if you aren't pregnant, drink the stuff with alcohol)

Mom's Coconut Chocolate Balls
1/2 lbs. butter
2 lbs. powdered sugar
1- 14 oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1- 16 oz bag of shredded coconut (sweetened is fine)
1  tsp vanilla
Cream the butter and add the remaining ingredients.  Roll the mixture into small balls and place on foil lined trays. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Melt in a double boiler:
1/2 block paraffin wax (about a 2 x 2 1/2 piece) used for canning (I don't use this, but it is part of the recipe)
24 oz semisweet chocolate chips
Dip the chilled balls into chocolate and place on foil sheets and cool.  Pretend that you are going to put them into pretty tins and give them as gifts.  Then realize that between you and the other people in the house you have consumed half and don't really want to give the rest away.  Give gift certificates instead.


Gingerbread Cake recipes from Epicurious.  I didn't do the pistachios, but the rest was awesome.

Warm and Soft

When I'm sick there is nohing that I want to be more than someplace warm and soft. Right now my throat feels like someone has taken a power sander to the inside. And my head has a full orchestra of jackhammers and cement drills going on. And don't get me started on how I can barely take a breath because a 400 pound gorilla is sitting on my chest. So what did I decide to do? Yup, you guessed it, NOT stay in my nice warm bed and continue to eat the velvety garlic chicken soup I made from scratch yesterday. No. I got up at 4 am and took a flight to New Jersey. Where it is raining.  And I'm lost.  Of course I have my GPS with me.  I still got lost.  I'm good like that.

Fast forward a few hours and I made it through, made the plane by seconds, sat on the runway for an hour (grumble grumble grumble).  But I did make it back to the house in time for bath time and one more cup of soup before crawling into my bed.  Aaaaaahhhhhhh.

I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of soup.  Something about being force-fed vegetable soup that was "healthy" when I was a kid.  Just to be clear, anytime you tell your kids something is healthy they will hate it.  Healthy means it tastes bad.  So, this soup is NOT healthy, it is actually just tasty.  Especially if you like garlic.  The best thing about this soup is that it is creamy and almost velvety.  Perfect for soothing a sore throat.

Chicken, Garlic and Bacon Soup 

10 Cloves of garlic, sliced thin

2 Pieces thick bacon

3T Butter

1/4C Flour

6C Chicken Stock (homemade is best)

3 Egg Whites

Salt and Pepper to taste

Render the fat from the bacon slices and remove bacon when crisp.  Add butter.  Saute garlic in butter and bacon fat until translucent and sweet smelling (yes, garlic does smell sweet when cooked, I promise, its really really good, even 10 cloves of it).  Whisk flour into mixture and cook, stirring often, until mixture looks medium brown and smells nutty (or just rely on look if your nose is all stuffed up like mine was).  Pour in 3-4 cups chicken stock and whisk to remove lumps.  Bring to low boil and cook for 10-15min.  If soup appears too thick, add additional stock.  Soup should coat the back of a spoon but not be too dense.  While whisking, add egg whites and cook additional 2min whisking constantly.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with crusty french bread and crumbled bacon on top.  Best eaten curled up in bed on a rainy day.

Fair and Balanced Dinner

In case you haven't caught onto the recent theme (no, not the failures theme, the actual food I'm trying to cook), I'm trying to eat healthy.  We're in a land of whatever you want at whatever time you want and while I'm all for buying a lawn mower at 3am, I do want to keep some of the habits we've established by living overseas.  Namely eating food that is fresh.  Perhaps even prepared by me.  Luckily for me, and unluckily for my husband and my bank account, we live walking distance to a Whole Foods.  And yes, they are incredibly expensive, and no, I can't help myself.  Luckily this one doesn't sell caviar.  Just over-priced eggplants and the like.  This one also has a pretty nice fish counter.  Of course you need a credit check just to approach, but once you've been reviewed by the loan officers you are allowed to actually look for what you will over-buy and then only cook half of.  Which is all beautiful.


Now, I'm usually a salmon or tuna girl, as is my husband, since they most closely resemble red meat.  He likes sword fish, although I'm not a fan.  White fish to me is hit or miss.  Sometimes they just taste like a carrier for the sauces and sometimes there's a flavor.  Mulling over all these things, I"m pacing the fish counter.  The loan officers begin to be concerned that I'm running too many numbers in my head and perhaps am not able to afford the almost criminally beautiful layout of oceanic tastiness in front of me.  In the nick of time the light-bulb goes on and I settle on red snapper.  Yes, its a white fish, but I've heard great things and have actually had it and liked it a time or two.


Of course I buy the snapper without knowing how I'm going to cook it.  A quick internet search pops up some great inspiration and I settle on an Asian style.  Sweet and spicy soy glaze over the fish while it cooks, and a cabbage, red pepper, and onion stir fry.  To the side I had a cold soba noodle salad with a light peanut dressing.  All in all, the flavors were perfect, nothing was overpowering, the stir fry was still slightly crispy and soaked up the extra glaze nicely.  Oh yeah, and the fish cooked perfectly and tasted pretty darn awesome.


So, fresh veggies, a small portion of lean protein, and a whole grain side.  Perhaps the hippies at Whole Foods are wearing off on me.  Regardless, I'm pretty pleased with making a tasty, healthy, and balanced dinner.  Recipes below:


Red Snapper and Stir Fry

1 red bell pepper sliced thin

2 cups thinly slice Napa cabbage

1/2 thinly sliced red onion

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon season rice vinegar

3/4 cup Sweet Spicy Soy Glaze (see below)

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

four 4-ounce red snapper or grouper fillets with skin

Preheat oven to 350.  Oil baking pan with 2 teaspoons vegetable oil.  Place red snapper fillets skin side down.  Pour 1/2 C of Sweet Spicy Soy glaze over the fillets.  Bake in the oven for 20min or until nearly cooked through.  Turn oven to broil for an additional 5min to caramelize the glaze, basting additional glaze over the fish just prior if necessary.  While the fish cooks, heat 1T vegetable oil in a non-stick pan until almost smoking.  Add bell peppers and onions, sauteing while stirring for 1-2 minutes.  Add cabbage and continue to stir, preventing the vegetables from burning, for no more than 7-8 minutes.  Add rice vinegar and saute for an additional 1-2 minutes. Take off of heat.


Serve fish and vegetables with additional glaze on the side.




Sweet Spicy Soy Glaze

1/2 pound shallots (about 5 large)

1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup water

3 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon finely grated peeled fresh gingerroot

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lime zest

Heat vegetable oil in a sauce pan and caramelize shallots, about 5min.  Add all other ingredients and cook together for 10-12 minutes so that all flavors meld.  Spoon over fish or vegetables.

Bacon and Alcohol

What does one bring to the house of one's very best friends?  Why, bacon and alcohol, of course!  On a Monday night I found myself without family and thought that a quiet evening with friends would be just the thing.  So I offered to cook dinner, a small gesture to off-set the hundreds of times I show up unannounced, drink their liquor, eat their food, sunbathe on their porch........ as a matter of fact, now that I think about it, why do they still answer the door when I come by?  No Emily, don't pull that string too hard, just be glad they do.

So anyway, I decided to make a pretty simple somewhat healthy dinner.  Chicken and salad.  What's more healthy than that?  Yup, you guessed it, I couldn't just make chicken and salad, I had to make salad with bacon and the chicken should have had a white wine sauce, but we drank all the wine before it was time to make the sauce.  So I wrapped the chicken in bacon too.  Actually I wrapped the chicken in prosciutto, which is much classier, but essentially still bacon.   And of course I love cheese and no meal is complete without it, so I fried 2 different types of goat cheese to see which one fried better.  Hmmmm......  Perhaps my definition of "healthy" and "simple" needs some work.

Well, the meal went perfectly with the wine that was supposed to go into the sauce, I was a huge hit with the 5-year-old because I left a couple pieces of bacon whole for him, and he actually liked the chicken.  Of course my early, calm, not drinking night was all three things............sort of.  Its what I love about my friends, while eating we talk about what we ate previously, the flavor, texture, combination, and nuances of what we are currently eating, and what we will eat next.  Its my kind of crowd!

Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken
2 Large Chicken Breasts (sized DD if you can find them, in Europe they don't enhance them as much so we had a full C), alternatively you can use chicken tenders about 1lb of meat total
6 pieces Thin Sliced, High Quality Prosciutto (substitute thin sliced bacon, must be smoked)
2T Light Olive Oil or Sunflower Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
(sauce contains white wine, lemon juice, chicken stock, and heavy cream...... but I can't comment on proportions since I drank all the white wine and a white wine sauce without wine is a little like wearing running shoes with your business suit)

Pound chicken breasts to about 1/2-3/4 in thick.  Cut into 2-3 pieces each.  Salt and pepper the chicken on both sides.  Wrap each piece of chicken in prosciutto, starting at one end and leaving both ends of the prosciutto tucked under the same side of the chicken.  Let the chicken rest with the seam side down while you head the olive oil in the pan until hot but not smoking.  Olive Oil has a low smoke point, sunflower oil is a little better so it doesn't make as big a mess and doesn't risk burning at as low a temperature.  Place the chicken in the oil seam side down.  Cook for 2-3 minutes until bottom is lightly browned.  Carefully flip the chicken and brown on the other side for 2-3 minutes.  Chicken may take an additional 2 minutes per side for the prosciutto to become golden brown and the chicken to cook through, depending on the thickness of the chicken.

Feld Salat with Shallot, Bacon, and White Balsamic dressing
1 Large Bunch of Feld Salad, substitute other tender leafy green if you are somewhere other than Germany
1 Package of Bacon (6-8 pieces, this is German sized package, not US)
2 Large or 3 Small Shallots minced
3T Olive Oil
2T White Balsamic Vinegar
1T Lemon Juice
1T Dijon Mustard
Salt and Pepper

Fry bacon until crispy.  Remove bacon from pan but leave drippings.  Add 1T of olive oil to the pan if there is not enough fat rendered from the bacon.  Caramelize the shallots in the bacon grease until translucent and soft.  Using a slotted spoon remove the shallots and put into a bowl.  In another bowl, whisk 2T olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, and mustard.  Add shallots.  Salt and pepper to taste.  To serve, toss the greens with the dressing and top with crumbled bacon.

Fried Goat Cheese
1 Log of Goat Cheese
10 Crackers (Ritz are good, I used parmesan crackers)
2T Olive Oil

Crush the crackers on a plate.  Cut the goat cheese log into rounds about 1/2in thick.  Roll the goat cheese in the cracker crumbs, pressing gently to adhere the crumbs to the cheese.  Heat the olive oil in a pan, preferably the one from above with the shallot and bacon grease, everything tastes better fried in bacon grease.  Heat until smoking....... the pan, not you......  Gently place the goat cheese rounds in the oil and fry for 2-3 min.  Very gently, using a spatula, flip the goat cheese and fry on the other side.  It will most likely ooze a little.   Place directly on the plate with the salad and chicken.

Then open the 2nd bottle of wine and enjoy with friends.

It Felt French....

So there we were, deciding what to do on a Saturday night.  Perhaps a calm night in?  Sounds good.  And we should cook.  Yeah!  Cooking together as a big groups will be fun.  We'll help each other, and each do a dish or two.  It will be easy and simple......

Of course, I don't do anything simple.  And neither do my friends.  So for a simple meal in together we made the following:
Caramelized Onion tart with anchovies and olives
Pork Wellington with apples and proscuitto
Tenderloin in a red wine reduction
Potatoes au Gratin
Bête Noire with Grand Marnier whipped cream

Oh, and did I mention there were only 5 of us eating?  That's right, a full French meal with two meat dishes for 5 people.  Now I know where the idea for fois gras came from.  All dishes were very very good.  Decadent and complicated good.  So much for the simple night in.

And of course we helped each other.  I helped Ivan wrap the tenderloin in puff pastry.  Migle watched the au gratin in the oven.  Jim managed the oven space.  Trey poured wine.  It all went well.  Until Ivan decided to help with the Bête Noire.  Now this is a very simple cake.  In fact, it requires eggs, sugar, chocolate, and butter.  Seriously.  That's it.  But it has about 48 steps that have to be exactly right.  One of them is whipping egg whites then gently incorporating them into the rest of the mixture.  Well, Ivan misunderstood my direction and poured the hot chocolate directly onto the whipped egg white deflating and partially cooking them.  Of course at that point there is nothing you can do but laugh and either bake it, start over, or skip desert.  We, being the experimental sort (no not that way......at least not until after desert), threw the whole thing together and baked it.  Texture was a little off, but really not bad.  The whipped cream with Grand Marnier helped.

I'll give the cake recipe here.  The tart recipe came from the Beautiful French cookbook, and was very tasty.  Sounds strange to have caramelized onions, anchovies, and olives, but the anchovies and olives with their salty taste cut the richness of the pastry and sweetness of the onions beautifully.  I guess that's why they call it the Beautiful cookbook.

Well, here is the One, the Only, the Richest Chocolate Cake ever: bête noire!  Literally translated: The Black Beast.  I used the recipe from the Beautiful cookbook (the more I write that, the more I can feel the book jumping up and down in front of me shouting "look at me I'm so beautiful", which in fact it is, it is also the size of an atlas and nearly broke Charlotte's toe when she dropped it.  Good cookbook, but a little pretentious....).  Anyway, below is the one from Epicurious which is exactly the same except for the addition of vanilla.  Oh, and I used half and half 60% and 70% belgian chocolate.  Oh, and make sure you put the chocolate into the yolks not the whites.


For cake

• 12 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

• 6 large eggs, separated
• 12 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 9-inch-diameter springform pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper or waxed paper; butter paper. Wrap outside of pan with foil. Stir chocolate and butter in heavy medium saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Cool to lukewarm, stirring often.

Using electric mixer, beat egg yolks and 6 tablespoons sugar in large bowl until mixture is very thick and pale, about 3 minutes. Fold lukewarm chocolate mixture into yolk mixture, then fold in vanilla extract. Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites in another large bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 6 tablespoons sugar, beating until medium-firm peaks form. Fold whites into chocolate mixture in 3 additions. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake cake until top is puffed and cracked and tester inserted into center comes out with some moist crumbs attached, about 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on rack (cake will fall).

Gently press down crusty top to make evenly thick cake. Using small knife, cut around pan sides to loosen cake. Remove pan sides. Place 9-inch-diameter tart pan bottom or cardboard round atop cake. Invert cake onto tart pan bottom. Peel off parchment paper.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Flourless-Chocolate-Cake-with-Chocolate-Glaze-5872#ixzz1IA8cvU9s

I made what?

As you know, I don't do anything simple.  Not even the currently popular "simple but elegant" type of things like pan-roasted steaks with a simple herb butter or fresh fruit with a Grand Marnier whipped cream.  Nope.  That's just not me.  I make chocolate eclairs for a BBQ and cognac-mustard sauce for a Tuesday dinner.  So what was I smoking when I decided to make MEATLOAF?!  That's right, I made meatloaf.  The classic ketchup-based variety.  I guess it was for the excitement in Trey's face when I told him I made meatloaf.  Its such a classic, simple, mid-week type of dish.  It actually turned out pretty good.  The ketchup and brown sugar topping I put on it was a little too sweet, but that's what you get when you don't measure anything for a dish you've never made.  In all, it turned out very well, if you like meatloaf (which I don't, so again, why did I make it?).

In a strange combination of dinners I made 2 similar menus, but both more classic and also more put-together than I usually do on a weekday.  On Tuesday night I had some friends and their kids over.  While the three girls (their 2 and mine) dismantled the living room my friend and I drank copious amounts of Sekt and I pulled random things out of my refridgerator and cooked them.  The menu actually turned out pretty nice:

Turkey in a White Wine Cream Sauce
Green Beans sauteed with lemon and garlic
Feldsalat with a white balsamic dressing
Bread (from a Pilsbury can....don't judge me, I made this all up as I went)
Meatloaf for the girls, and green beans without garlic and lemon for the girls too

The whole menu came as a "what in my fridge needs to be consumed before I leave town for a few days."  In all, I was pretty impressed.  Below are the recipes, or as much as I remember seeing as I was cooking with wine.  Well, cooking with Sekt actually.  I'll take Sekt any time I can get it :)

Turkey in White Wine Cream Sauce
1 Large Turkey Breast, cut into large pieces
1T Olive Oil
1 1/2C White Wine
1/4C Heavy Cream
1/2C Cream of Mushroom Soup (again I was making this up while I was drinking, don't judge me for using a can)

Pre-heat oven to whatever temperature you baked the bread at.  Brown the turkey pieces in a large skillet with the olive oil.  Remove turkey and place into greased baking dish.  Deglaze the pan with the wine, adding in 1/4C amounts, scraping browned bits off the bottom, and only consuming a little bit of the wine.  Or pour your self a glass and use the rest of the bottle for the pan.  That's actually easier.  When reduced to about 1/2C volume, stir in heavy cream and cream of mushroom soup.  Stir to combine and cook for about 2 min.  Pour over turkey and bake for 20-30min.  Serve immediately.

Green Beans with lemon and garlic
3 large handfuls of green beans, or as much as you want to eat (really? do I need to do all the math for you?)
1/2T butter for each handful of beans
1/2t Crushed Garlic for each handful of beans
1/2t Lemon Juice for each handful of beans

Boil beans in a large sauce pan for 4-5min.  Beans should be crisp-tender (no, that isn't an oxymoron, it means they are still crisp but not raw.  Seriously.  Don't debate me on this, just boil them for 4-5min and you'll figure it out).  Drain the beans.  Heat the butter in a large skillet.  Put beans in the hot butter and saute for about 2 min.  Add garlic and lemon to the pan.  Toss to coat.  Saute an additional 2-3min.  Remove from heat.  Serve immediately.

White Balsamic Dressing
2T Olive Oil
2T White Balsamic Vinegar (the White Balsamic Vinegar cream is even better)
1T Dijon Mustard
Pinch of Salt
Pinch of Pepper
Honey as needed

Mix all ingredients together with a whisk.  Add honey in 1/2t sections until desired sweetness is achieved.  Pour on greens.  Prepare for fawning....

Thermodynamic Lesson

During Trey's block leave we decided to have a smoking party.  No, not the California-hippy style smoking party.   We smoked meat.  I mean, we smoked MEAT!  Full brisket and 5 or 6 racks of ribs (St. Louis cut).  Plus just to round things out I threw some veggies in the smoker for fun.  Smoking meat takes about 10 hours, depending on the size of the meat.  A brisket takes about 10 hours to get fork tender but not falling apart.   Of course during this time you must periodically stoke the fire, check the temperature, and check on the meat.  The active time is about 1 hour total, wedged into 10 hours of drinking beer and poking at a fire.  Trey is in charge of the smoking.  I open beers.  Its a good trade.


Of course, you can't consume that much meat yourself, so you must invite people over.  And if people are coming, you must have additional dishes to serve to round out the table.  Otherwise the table would tip over from the enormous amount of meat on one side.  I decided to go with basic BBQ style sides.  My traditional bluecheese coleslaw, baked potatoes, and because I can't stand to do a party completely simple..... chocolate eclairs.  With homemade pastry cream.


As you know, meat that is smoked usually has BBQ sauce either on it or on the side.  Trey made his own BBQ sauce.  He was heating it up at the last minute to pour over the meat for the last half hour of smoking.  In his effort to minimize the amount of dishes (smart, since he's the one that does them), he decided to heat the sauce in the Pyrex measuring cup.  Now Pyrex is a pretty amazing substance.  It goes from oven to fridge with no problem.  However, what he did not realize was that oven heat and stove heat are different due to the different thermodynamic properties of air vs. glass.  This lesson was made abundantly clear when the 4 cup measure containing the BBQ sauce exploded all over the kitchen.


I was just so happy that the explosion wasn't my fault that all I could do was laugh.  And then hand the 3 guys in the room mops and towels to clean up.  Luckily we had enough ingredients for another batch of BBQ sauce, which was made in a pan, and I got a brand new Pyrex measuring cup out of the deal.


Exploding sauce notwithstanding, it was an excellent party.  Good food, good company, whiskey tasting, and I won an argument with Ivan about whether meat caramelizes (it does, due to the natural sugars in muscle tissue).  At one point I came into the family room and all 4 children were furiously jumping up and down on the couch.  I guess the cookies that Mallory brought were a hit too.


Pate a Chou

1 1/4 cups water

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups unbleached flour

4 to 6 large eggs

Preheat oven to 425.  In a heavy saucepan bring water to a boil with butter and salt over high heat. Reduce heat to moderate. Add flour all at once and beat with a wooden spoon until mixture pulls away from sides of pan, forming a dough.  Transfer dough to bowl of a standing electric mixer and beat in 4 eggs, 1 at a time, on high speed, beating well after each addition. Batter should be stiff enough to just hold soft peaks and fall softly from a spoon. If batter is too stiff, in a small bowl beat remaining 2 eggs lightly, 1 at a time, and add to batter, a little at a time, beating on high speed, until batter is desired consistency.

Pipe onto cookie sheets covered in parchment paper.  Pipe mounds 1 1/2 inches in diameter, leaving 1 1/2 inches between circles.  Using a wet finger, smooth the tops of the mounds.  Bake at 425 for 10 minutes.  Reduce heat to 400 and bake an additional 20 min until golden brown and hollow sounding.  Turn oven off and let stand in oven for 30 min.  Then remove and allow to cool completely. 

Vanilla Pastry Cream

1 1/2 cups half and half

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

2 tablespoons all purpose flour

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Bring half and half to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Whisk sugar, eggs, egg yolk and flour in medium bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in hot half and half. Transfer to saucepan. Whisk over medium heat until mixture thickens and comes to boil, about 5 minutes. Boil 1 minute. Pour into medium bowl. Stir in vanilla. Press plastic onto surface of pastry cream. Cover; chill until cold, about 4 hours. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled.)

Drinkin' and Drivin'

There are many things you should not drive when you are drinking.  Cars, trucks, tractors, and a new one to add to the list is shopping carts.  Especially when said shopping cart happens to be in Feinkost Bohm.  For anyone who is a regular follower of my blog will now be slapping their forehead saying "oh no, she didn't go in there AGAIN?  Doesn't she know the devil works there?"  And in fact he does.  Yes, this is the tall, dark, handsome, vaguely-British accented man that convinced me to buy Iranian caviar and 2 bottles of champagne because of course I needed it.  Well, this time I was in for a quick shopping trip.  Yeah, yeah, I know, no such thing with me.  But I was also kind of playing hooky from work, so there were multiple reasons for my visit.  Plus I needed food to cook for dinner with my in-laws.....

Cue suspense music.......

And then he appeared, informing me that there was a special on a new, small vineyard champagne and I should try some.  So after a try, or two, I went on my merry way patting myself on the back for not succumbing to the temptation to buy an entire case of champagne.  And in my glow of self-satisfaction I decided to buy some steaks for dinner.  Upon glancing up and down the meat counter I decided on Waygu beef.  In filet and ribeye cuts.  They looked lovely and I planned to make them with a cognac mustard sauce.  I was feeling so proud of myself for avoiding the damage of a case of champagne and having a nice classic dinner planned.  And then I went to the register with my armful of parcels.

Big cymbal crash as the monster leaps out........

Yes, I had, in fact, bought the most expensive meat possible.  In the most expensive cuts.  Imported from Japan.  My pocketbook had a seizure, the credit card company began collectively shaking their heads, and all the while the devil is sitting in the background with a placid smile and a glass of Champagne.

No more drinking and driving shopping carts.

I will tell you that the beef was amazing, the sauce turned out perfectly, and the blue-cheese cheesecake that went on crackers as a sort of side dish was perfect with the steak.  I also made a green bean casserole which was good, but unremarkable.

Steak:
2 cuts of the most expensive steak you can find
1T Olive Oil
Pinch of Salt
Pinch of Pepper

Let steaks rest at room temperature while you consume your first glass of wine and explain to your spouse why you are now broke.  Heat olive oil in pan until very hot but not smoking.  Salt and Pepper steaks on both sides.  Sear steaks on both sides, 6 min total if Medium Rare.  If wanting another type of cooking, buy less expensive steaks.

Cognac Sauce
3T + 1/2C Cognac
1T Dijon Mustard
1/4C Heavy Cream

Deglaze steak pan with 3T Cognac sauce.  Sip the rest, pouring small amounts into the pan to get the right consistency.  Add mustard and heavy cream.  Stir until thickened.  Salt and Pepper as needed, but taste first.  Salt and pepper from the steaks rubs off a little.  Pour over steaks.

Blue Cheese Cheesecake
1 Refrigerator Pie crust
1/2 Package Cream Cheese
4-6oz. Blue Cheese (depending on desired taste)
1 Egg
1/4C Heavy Cream
Pinch Salt
Pinch Pepper
2 Large Onions
2T Butter
Pinch of Sugar (about 1t)

Preheat oven to 375.  Blind bake the pie crust in 7in pie pan.  Remove from oven when light brown.  Cream both cheeses, egg, cream, salt and pepper.  Pour into pie crust.  Bake for 20-35 min, until cheesecake is solid in middle. 

Cut onions into slices.  Heat butter in large frying pan.  Cook onions in butter until golden brown, stirring frequently.  Add sugar and cook for additional 3 min, until medium brown.  Serve on top of cheesecake.

Back with a Bang

After the over-ambitious Thanksgiving gorge-fest, it took me a little while to get back to cooking.  Not only did the dishes take a while, but with the Christmas prep, getting ready for Trey to come back, and my general inability to stay inside when there are so many opportunities to drink Gluhwein.....  it took me a while to get back to cooking.  But now that I have, and now that Trey is back to help keep little helpful hands from smearing whatever I'm making all over the kitchen, cats, and herself.....  NOW I CAN COOK!

First up was the most complicated cake I've ever made.  Of course, in good over-ambitious and over-zealous baking ideas, I decided to make a traditional Lithuanian Torte Napoleon.  Yup, that's right, making a really hard torte, from a culture I don't belong to, and can't really find a reliable recipe in a language I read.....  All great ideas, right?  Well, I did about 100 hours of research, found several recipes that looked traditional (the ones that included instant pudding didn't seem to be traditional enough, and anyone who knows me know that I REFUSE to take shortcuts).  The cake turned out pretty well, maybe not completely traditional, but I did get the Lithuanian I made it for to verify the torte dough and one of the custards I used were in fact authentic.  The lemon butter cream I added wasn't in the least traditional or Lithuanian.  It was in fact Italian.  Made with egg whites, hot sugar syrup, and lots of whipping.  But I think it added to it.  Especially since the Lithuanian in question likes lemon, so the lemon Italian butter cream seemed to make sense.

Second big dish I cooked was Beef Bourguignon for Christmas dinner.  Served over puff pastry stars.  This one was also done the traditional way, with pork belly, onion, beef, and lots and lots and lots of wine.  It turned out very well.  Of course cook anything in wine for 3 hours and its going to taste great right?

And now, I'm off to make sugar cookies to sandwich with the rest of the lemon butter cream to take to our sledding party in the old castle.  I also have to finish the hot chocolate, by adding Baileys and rum, of course.  And looks like the sun is almost out, so I'll add the Torte Napoleon and Beef Bourguingnon recipes a little later.  After I've had my fill of hot chocolate, cookies, and sledding.

Cooking with Looney Toons

In my biggest, most outrageous, most over-the-top dinner party planned to date, I think I faired pretty well. There were several cancellations at the last minute, so we only had 16 adults as opposed to the 24 I was expecting.  And from the amount of noise I think then entire Hun army sent their children.  There were some big successes in the food, and some mediocre dishes, but no massive failures.  Which is kind of incredible.  Here is the full, complete, unabridged menu:

Herb Butter rubbed Turkey (weighing in at 25.4 lbs.)

Sage and Mushroom Stuffing (this one was mediocre, but I'll blame the vegetarian for that one)

Gravy (also mediocre, although the only person I can blame is myself)

Black Truffle Mashed Potatoes (pretty good, although needed more truffles and to be whipped)

Baked Macaroni and Cheese (big success on this one)

Butternut Squash Soup (pretty good, but needed something on top)

Grappa Cranberry Jelly (do you even have to ask?  Of course it was great, is has grappa!)

Candied Sweet Potatoes (also good, which was a surprise)

Pumpkin Pie (normal, normal)

Gingerbread Spice Cake with Orange Cream Cheese frosting (mmmmmmm........)

I was most impressed with the turkey.  And I think the reason it came out so well was just sheer, dumb luck.  I made the herb butter a head of time, and not bothering to read a recipe for turkey simply made a pound of herb butter.

Herb Butter

3T Fresh Minced Rosemary

2T Fresh Minced Thyme

2T Fresh Minced Sage

1lb Butter, softened to room temperature

Salt to taste

Mix well and either refrigerate for up to a week, freeze for a couple months, or slather immediately on turkey.

So, when it came time to rub the turkey with butter I had forgot to bring the butter back to room temperature, resulting in big clumps of butter under the turkey skin.  And being lazy, I just kind of poked them into place and left them.  Then microwaved the rest and brushed it on the turkey skin.  Now, keep in mind that I'm doing this by myself, so lugging around a 25lb, slippery, rubbery bird is going about as well as a Looney Toons cartoon would do.  I put a cooling rack directly on a solid oven rack because that was the only think I could find that would fit the turkey.  Then unceremoniously dropped Mr. Butter-up-my-Butterball on top and threw him in the oven.  After a few times of basting the skin was getting a little too brown too quickly.  Hmmmm, perhaps having it directly against the heating element isn't helping...  Lets flip him over.  Cue Looney Toons music again....

Besides using every kitchen towel in the house, watching the bird slide across my counter into the half prepared sweet potatoes, and dropping turkey fat on the cats, I got him turned from breast to back...

So I flipped him, basted him, and put him back in the over.  After a while the skin was a little too dark so based on the fact that I hadn't ruined the bird yet, I decided to just cover him with foil.  When guests started arriving (and by guests, I mean indentured servants that I conned into helping me prepare) someone thought it would be best if I left the meat thermometer in the turkey so that I wouldn't have to take it all the way out to check the temperature.  And as is usually my luck, the thermometer melted in the oven.  Luckily against the tin foil not the turkey.  So we guessed that clear juices = done turkey.

It was actually really good.  Very moist.  Very tender.  Great flavor.  What's my secret?  A pound of butter and cooking with Looney Toons.

(Oh, and I cooked the turkey at a 175C oven for about 5 1/2 hours, just to complete the recipe.....  Don't forget the 3 glasses of Sekt it takes during the last hour and a half of roasting)

Other dishes and recipes to follow.

Next Time I'm bringing Salt

A barbeque.....yeah, that's a good idea.  On a Sunday afternoon.  Cool.  With a Southwest theme.  With my friends that have kids.  Sounds great...........

Um.  But I don't know how to start a fire let alone work a grill.  And I've never had any more than 1 more kid over at a time.  Oh, and I have no idea who is showing up or how many.  Luckily for me one of the guys (thanks Matt) was kind enough to take over grilling the flock of chickens that I had marinated.  And another couple took my kid for a little bit so I could finish cooking.  And everyone brought something.  Which brings me to my title.  When I invite people I never assume they will bring anything.  However during casual events like bbq's I'm always happy to add if they want to bring something.  I love to cook so I assume that if my friends want to cook they will do so and then bring it.  And if they don't, then they just show up.

Everyone brought great additions.  And then there was Ivan.  Who did bring a very tasty pork and bean stew that I can't remember the name of because it is actually authentic as opposed to the I'll-make-something-with-chilis-and-call-it-mexican-even-if-it-includes-cheezewiz types that I usually make.  However, he did not make his famous guacamole.  Luckily the girls trapped him in the kitchen and then badgered him into turning my 3 mediocre avocados into great guacamole.  And in conversation later he made the statement that for any more potluck dinners he was bringing salt.  Good luck with that Ivan........  I'm never coming to one of these dinners without avocados and cilantro.

My contributions were chili, which we didn't serve because Ivan brought his pork and beans (which was worlds better, so I'm glad I kept the lid on the chili), grilled chicken breast, which I didn't grill because I don't know how and Matt does such a great job of it anyway, and grilled corn with chili lime butter.  I did make the marinade for the chicken and the chili lime butter.  Both of which were very good.  The marinade was the same as one of the last entries with just a little more currant juice added to make it sweeter.  And the chili lime butter recipe is below.  Its my favorite thing to put on corn.

Chili Lime Butter

1/2 C Butter
1/4 C Cream Cheese
1T  Honey
1/2T Lime Juice
1t Chipotle Powder
1/2t Cumin
1/2t Garlic Powder

Soften butter and cream cheese to room temperature.  Mix all ingredients in a bowl until completely combined.  Chill for about a hour.  Slather on hot corn on the cob.  Don't forget a napkin and don't underestimate the sheer pleasure of licking your fingers.

So the sum total of my contribution to a very successful sunday party was a grill, a terrace, an apartment, an oven......... essentially real estate.

Better than Expected

One of the hazards of conducting shopping exchanges in a language you aren't very good at is the probability of ending up with something you didn't want, usually in large quantities.  Which is how I ended up with 1.5 kilos of apricots (see the previous blog about cheeseblobsoup).  Well, this time I ended up with more pretzels than I needed.  I actually need a half a pretzel every time I go to the bakery because that's about all Charlotte eats.  So when I ended up with 4, I knew there was going to be something creative that needed to happen.

Luckily I"m going through my backlog of 378 old cooking magazines.  Ok, so its not actually that many, but it is in the 3 digits.  I know, I have a problem.  Add it to the list.......

Anyway, one of the articles had a "what to do with pretzels" theme, and there were some good sweet-savory combos.  Of course this was an American magazine so they meant the hard pretzels that you consume like chips while you watch football in a dark dive bar while hoping one of the med students down the bar is going to take her top off to get a free tee shirt......  But the same concepts apply to the large bakery pretzels here in Germany.

The result of the pretzel, magazine, inability-to-articulate-quantities combination was a very, very good pretzel bread pudding with caramel sauce.  It was like the best combination of bread pudding and salted caramel.  I was very surprised by how good it was.  I just bought another bag of pretzels to try it again to make sure it wasn't just the sekt talking that made it so good.

Caramel Pretzel Bread Pudding

2 day-old pretzels, torn into 1" pieces
1 egg
1/3C heavy cream
1/2C Sugar
1/2C Caramel Sauce

Grease a small baking dish and preheat the over to 350.  Mix egg, cream, and sugar in a bowl.  Toss pretzel pieces in mixture.  Put half into the baking dish.  Pour half the caramel sauce on top.  Layer the other half of the pretzel mixture on top.  Bake for roughly 20min (mostly done, but not completely).  Take the dish out and top with the remaining caramel sauce.  Continue baking until dark brown and bubbly on top.  Serve hot.  Top with more caramel sauce if you need extra calories, or more sweetness.

Caramel Sauce recipe to follow shortly, need a shower and Charlotte is finally asleep for a nap.  Don't let me forget to add it.  I have a bad habit of saying I'll add something and then forgetting......

Peppers and blood

I'm not sure when, with what inspiration stick I had been beaten senseless, but at some point I bought dried chili peppers.  Not sure what I thought I was going to do with them, but this morning I had too much coffee to nap, so when Angela came to take Charlotte out for a little bit I decided to "do something" with the peppers.  Since all the cookbooks say to be careful what you touch when you are working with them.  So, I proceeded to very carefully rehydrate them, remove stems, remove seeds, and puree them as the directions indicated.  Only to find they were barely spicy at all.  Which is just fine for me.  But I had hoped to make a sweet-spicy marinade and usually marinades can be a little over spicy because the spice cooks off a little when the meat cooks.  Through a lot of add and re-adding and tasting I managed to get a marinade I was pretty pleased with.

While the result was worth the effort, and turned out pretty darn good, I made a few rookie mistakes along the way.  The first being my attire.  I was wearing a brand new white shirt while I was blending hot, blood red chilis.......  And of course you all know what happened to my shirt.  No, I was not attacked by vampires, I was a victim of my own hubris.  Thinking I was being so careful that I didn't need an apron.  Well, some mistakes you have to make more than once.

Sweet-Hot Marinade, watch the white shirt
1/2 C Ancho Chili Paste (see below)
1/2 C Guadillo Chili Paste (see below)
1/2 Can Tomato Paste
3T Cider Vinegar
3T Honey
2T Worchestershire Sauce
2t Crushed Garlic
2t Chipotle Powder

Combine over low heat, stirring until blended and smooth.

Oh, and I also cut my hand, for the second time in a week, on the tomato paste can.   Seriously?  What's with the repeat mistakes?

Chili Paste (either chili type)
4C Boiling Water
Dried Chilis (1 package)
1t Garlic
1T Fresh Cilantro

Pour boiling water over chilis and cover.  Let sit for 30min until rehydrated.  Remove stems and seeds.  Reserve liquid.  Put chilis, garlic, cilantro, and about 1/2C reserved liquid in blender.  Blend until smooth.  Add additional liquid about 1/4C at a time until desired consistency.

3 Wins, 1 Tie, and a Cheeseblobsoup

I keep whining about wanting to cook more, and I realized I've actually done a fair bit lately.  Although not all of it was really intended as cooking, it was more preparation for Class 1 Upload, and my infantry friend used to say.  However I did make a few things definitely worth keeping, with a few ideas of how to gussy them up a little.  Then there was the mediocre coffee cake, which was passable and enough to get my colleagues to see I tried but not really my best work.  And finally was the complete disaster of a cake.  I'll save that one for last, it merits some rumination on where my extensive thermodynamics and fluid dynamics education went while I was thinking through this concept.

Starting with the Out of the Park hit:  Goat cheese stuffed portobellos
4 Large Portobello Caps, cleaned with stems removed
4 oz Goat Cheese
3 oz Cream Cheese
1T Pesto
4 Slices Emmantaller Cheese (or swiss of that's easier)
8t White Balsamic Vinegar
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Turn on broiler.  Drizzle olive oil on cooking sheet and rub to coat.  Put mushroom caps top down on baking sheet.  Drizzle a small amount of olive oil across each.  Grind salt and pepper onto each cap.  Drizzle 2t balsamic vinegar in each cap.  Mix goat cheese, cream cheese, and pesto in a bowl.  Divide cheese mixture between all 4 mushroom caps.  Lay a piece of cheese across each mushroom.  Broil until cheese is starting to brown and crisp, about 5 min.  Serve immediately.

I like things a little sour.  Sourdough bread, sour cream, and buttermilk top my list.  I came across the recipe for Cucumber Buttermilk Soup from a Martha Stewart magazine (link not online yet, will add when it becomes available).  I followed the recipe almost exactly, so I won't bother to reprint.  It was great.  I left it warm and added some additional potato flakes to make it more of a puree for Charlotte to eat.  But she liked it as a soup, its just hard to feed soup to a 15month old who hasn't figured out the correct orientation of a spoon and yet wants to do everything herself.  The cucumber and potato base was great warm and cold.  And the buttermilk was exactly my style.

This evening I made Corn and Onion Cakes.  They were supposed to be more like fritters, or something, but the first batch soaked up too much oil and were a strange consistency so I added flour and made them more like pancakes, which turned out great.  So to the Corn Cakes recipe I just added about 1/2 C flour.  And instead of goat cheese I used cheddar and I omitted the bacon part.  Charlotte was a fan, so I feel this was a success.  Again, it was a little sour, but I like things sour.  Others may not, but hey, its my blog so deal with the sour.  At least I'm not bitter today.....

The tie was the Apricot Coffee Cake that I made following the recipe from Epicurious.  I think had I served it warm out of the oven it might have been good.  But having to keep it in the fridge overnight and then take it to work in the morning turned it a little hard.  I know, I should have just baked it at work or something like that, but frankly I'm not that committed.  I guess it will show on my performance evaluation, but perhaps that day I'll bake brownies or just bring in whiskey.

And finally, the moment you have all been waiting for, the moment I reveal my latest departure from the reality of baking, where I attempt to throw off the chains of physics and chemical laws only to have them come back to flog me with my own failure.  I had left over apricots, so I wanted to make something with them.  I had no flour in the house, and still don't, but that's punishment for this flagrant disrespect for baking rules.  Anyway, my logic went thus "no flour but plenty of cream cheese, I could make a cheesecake."  So, away I went, pitting and preparing fresh apricots.  Then melting butter and sugar in the bottom of a baking dish to make a caramel sauce such as the one I used for the upside down pineapple cake.  Then I layers the apricots in the dish on top of the caramel.  Next I whipped up a traditional cheesecake batter and poured it on top.  Those of you who bake regularly are cringing in disbelief.  Those who don't are thinking "there's something wrong with this picture, but I can't put my finger on it."  Well, cheesecake has a particular liquid to fat ratio that makes it the way it is, and apricots, especially fresh ones, have lots of liquid.  And since the apricots are under the cheesecake mixture there was no opportunity for the liquid to escape.  Resulting in a very big, bubbling, hot, useless, exploding-and-coating-the-oven mess.  Why I thought that juicy fresh fruit on the bottom of a cheesecake was going to work, I have no idea, but I think my fluid dynamics teacher should retroactively fail me.

Not your doctor

The second dinner in France was on the last night before leaving, so I had to use what was in the fridge.  Kind of the vacationer's version of Iron Chef.  The biggest challenge was the 1 kilo of butter that was left.  That, and the pineapple.  So, the menu was as follows:

Cheese souffle
Rosemary potatoes
World's Least Healthy stir fry
Pineapple upside down cake

I prefaced the meal with making sure people knew "I am not your doctor, I am your cook."  It was a pretty heavy, decadent meal.  But hey, if you want healthy, ask your doctor.  And don't buy butter in kilo sizes.

There was also an attempt at a hollandaise sauce to go with the potatoes, but it turned out badly so we didn't eat it.  The rosemary potatoes were simply sliced potatoes, butter, salt, and fresh rosemary ripped from the bush outside.  Which I regret not ripping up and taking with us.  The potatoes were great.  My greatest accomplishment was the souffle from scratch, with no beaters, stand mixer, or any other machine to help.  It didn't puff the way I wanted it to, but I also had to bake it in a too-large metal bowl as opposed to a souffle dish.  Taste was pretty good though.  World's Least Healthy stir fry had good veggies, but I wasn't a fan of how the meats turned out.  But then again, I'm not a big sausage or bacon fan to begin with.  The cake had the typical problem of not being cooked all the way through, but since it was huge and there were only 8 of us, we all got plenty of cooked portions.

Cheese Souffle

• 2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Pinch of ground nutmeg
• 4 large egg yolks
• 5 large egg whites
• 1 cup (packed) coarsely grated Gruyère cheese

Preheat to 400F.Butter large soufflé dish (I don't recommend metal pans, it reduced the puff). Add Parmesan cheese and tilt dish, coating bottom and sides. Warm milk in heavy small saucepan over medium-low heat until steaming.  Meanwhile, melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and whisk until mixture begins to foam and loses raw taste, about 3 minutes (do not allow mixture to brown). Remove saucepan from heat; let stand 1 minute. Pour in warm milk, whisking until smooth. Return to heat and cook, whisking constantly until very thick, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat; whisk in paprika, salt, and nutmeg. Add egg yolks 1 at a time, whisking to blend after each addition. Scrape soufflé base into large bowl. Cool to lukewarm. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.

Beat egg whites in another large bowl until stiff but not dry (a stand mixer or electric hand mixer make this much easier, although it can be done with a whisk, it just takes longer). Fold 1/4 of whites into room temperature soufflé base to lighten. Fold in remaining whites in 2 additions while gradually sprinkling in Gruyère cheese. Transfer batter to prepared dish.  Place dish in oven and immediately reduce oven temperature to 375F. Bake until soufflé is puffed and golden brown on top and center moves only slightly when dish is shaken gently, about 25 minutes (do not open oven door during first 20 minutes). Serve immediately.

World's Least Healthy stir fry

2 packages Bacon
1 package sausage
1 large onion, sliced
2 large bell peppers, sliced
3 tablespoons butter

Boil sausages until cooked through.  Cook bacon in skill until crispy and fat is rendered.  Remove bacon slices and place on paper towel.  Add sausage to the pan, turning to crisp outside.  Add onions and butter to pan, stirring occasionally until almost tender.  Add bell pepper to pan, stirring occasionally until almost tender.  Add bacon back to pan, tossing to ensure mixture is warmed all the way through.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

For topping:

• 1 small pineapple, peeled, cored, and sliced in 1/4in rounds
• 3/4 stick unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

For batter:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 to 3 teaspoons ground cardamom
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup orange juice (pineapple might be better)

Preheat oven to 350°F. 

Make topping:
Melt butter in skillet or pan being used for baking the cake. Add brown sugar and simmer over moderate heat, stirring, 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Arrange pineapple on top of sugar mixture in overlapping pieces slightly.

Make batter:
Sift together flour, cardamom, baking powder, and salt. Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy (or by hand if you don't have an electric mixer, just make sure it gets light), then gradually beat in granulated sugar. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add half of flour mixture and beat on low speed just until blended. Beat in juice, then add remaining flour mixture, beating just until blended. (Batter may appear slightly curdled.)

Spoon batter over pineapple topping and spread evenly. Bake cake in middle of oven until golden and a tester comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let cake stand in skillet 5 minutes. Invert a plate over skillet and invert cake onto plate (keeping plate and skillet firmly pressed together). Replace any pineapple stuck to bottom of skillet.