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

First dinner in France

I'm working a back-log of entries, so the dates are a little delayed from when I actually cooked some of this.  But I thought I'd write about the first meal I made during our vacation in France.  This was after I got over the alien infestation in my stomach and was able to stand without doubling over in pain and consume more than two bites of plain bread without my stomach turning into the gastrointestinal version of Mount St. Helen.  So, with that mostly behind me, I set out to cook for the 8 of us as I had originally promised to do.  Through sheer luck, and Trey's superior planning ability, I had everything I needed for a complete dinner except for vanilla, which was easily aquired at the store.

The first course was Potato Croquettes, not because I set out to make them but because there were 2 types of left over potatoes in the fridge and I hate having leftovers hanging around.  So the two leftover potato dishes got mashed up with cheese, butter, and bread crumbs, then dredged in rice crispies and fried.  I have to say I was quite impressed with the rice crispy outside.  It made a perfect coating.  They crisped up very fast, so I definitely wouldn't recommend using rice crispies for something that needs to cook all the way through, but for croquettes it was perfect.

The Panzanella Salad was the first time I had done it, and all I knew was that it consisted of fresh tomatoes, onions, and dried bread.  And since Trey likes caramellized onions so much, I decided to caramelize them and add them hot to the salad.  The only bad part was that I burned some of the bread, and the salad would have been a little better if I had let it sit for about 20min before serving it, that way te bread would have gotten a little softer and soaked up the juices.  But overall I was pretty pleased with the taste.

The chicken with pan sauce turned out fine, nice and tender but kind of unremarkable.  Which I guess was good since the kids liked it.

Desert was Croissant bread pudding, since we had a bunch of sweet croissants that we hadn't eaten and needed to be used or thrown out.  This one was pretty good, would have been better in a different baking dish.  And it DID NOT go well with the coffee icecream that I served it with for myself.  But luckily everybody else got to learn from my mistake and eat it without ruining it.

Potatoe croquettes
1 1/2 C Cooked Potatoes, mashed
3/4C Soft Cheese (cream cheese can substitute if you don't have access to really nice fresh cheese)
1/2C Milk (whole milk is best)
3/4C Bread Crumbs
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 C Rice Crispies, roughly crushed
1/2C Oil for frying

Mix potatoes, cheese, milk, salt, and pepper.  Consistency should be fairly stiff.  Add milk slowly to avoid making the mixture too soupy.  Add more bread crumbs to make it stiffer.  Shape into balls about the size of a golf ball.  Roll in rice crispies, pressing rice crispies into the balls and flattening the balls into disks.  Heat 1/4C oil in a pan until smoking.  Fry the croquettes until golden brown, about 2 min on each side.  Add more oil to the pan as necessary to keep the level at about 1/2in.  Serve immediately.


Panzanella salad
3 Fresh Tomatoes, chopped into 1-inch pieces
1/2 Loaf Bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
3T Olive Oil
3T Herbs d' Provence
1t Salt
2 Medium onions, chopped into slivers
3T Butter
1/4C Olive Oil
3T Dijon Mustard
1T Honey
2t Balsamic Vinegar
1/2t Salt
1/4t Pepper

Place bread cubes in a single later on a baking sheet.  Drizzle 3T Olive Oil over bread cubes, sprinkle Herbs d' Provence and 1t salt over bread, tossing to coat.  Toast under the broiler until dark brown, but not burned.  Remove and set aside.  Caramelize onions in 3T butter and set aside.  Whisk together olive oil, mustard, vinegar, honey, salt, and pepper in the bottom of a large bowl.  Add tomatoes, bread, and onions.  Toss to coat with dressing.

croissant bread pudding  - Recipe to come later.  Here is a link to a good one, just substitute croissant for bread  http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Vermont-Maple-Bread-Pudding-with-Walnut-Praline-230662.  I'll put my actual recipe up later.

Back Again

Well, its be 16 months since I last wrote. In that time I got pregnant, had a baby, moved back to Germany, and saw my husband deployed to Iraq. Its been a pretty busy year, and I've been not so thrilled about cooking. When I was pregnant my favorite things to eat were cakes, cupcakes, cookies, mashed potatoes, and bread. I was sick for a lot of the pregnancy and had a hard time with anything that wasn't easy on my stomach. And then the busyness of a new baby definitely put cooking on the back burner.

I'm settled back in Stuttgart, Germany. T is more or less settled in Bagdad for his year tour. And our new addition, Charlotte, just slept through the night for the first time last night. So I guess you could say she is starting to settle in also. Since I'm cooking for just myself most of the time I don't have a ton to write about. I'll fill in some of the notable dinners from the past year, and as I make one or two I'll write about those too. Cooking just for me will help me with the last 8lbs. of pregnancy weight. Considering I gained 65, I think I'm doing pretty well. But this will still be a good opportunity to try to eat healthier. Plus I need to set a good example for Charlotte when she starts wanting to eat what I'm eating.

My friends and I decided to have Wednesday night cooking nights at their house. We'll alternate cooking. Jim loves to cook, I love to cook, and Migle likes to eat what we cook. So I think it will be a good set up. I did make shredded beef in adobo sauce and a flourless chocolate cake for New Years at their house. It was a Mexican theme, so I slow roasted what I think was a brisket. Trying to translate an American cut of beef through my vegetarian babysitter to the butcher was a challenge. But I got a nice cut that was pretty close to brisket. I slow cooked it for about 8 hours until it fell apart, then served it cold with the adobo sauce. I had to tone it down a little since most of the guests were Lithuanian or German, neither nationality eats things very spicy. The flourless chocolate cake was supposed to have chipotle in it, but I toned that down too so there was almost no spice. But the cake was still excellent.

So, with the New Year I'm resolving to write my blog more. If not for other people, at least for myself to keep a record of what I'm doing, cooking, thinking, and eating.

Slow Cooked Beef Brisket

2-3lbs Beef Brisket

1 Medium Onion

5 Cloves Garlic

2 Chilis, canned, in adobo sauce

2t Adobo Sauce (from canned chilis)

2T Maple Syrup

1T Lime Juice

1T Salt

1 Dark Beer

Preheat oven to 275 (roughly)

Season beef with salt and pepper. Heat oil in heavy skillet. Brown meat on all sides, about 5 min per side. Place beef in baking dish with lid (or can be covered with aluminum foil).

Puree Onion, Garlic, Chilis, Adobo Sauce, Maple Syrup, Lime Juice, Salt. Pour sauce over brisket. Add enough beer for sauce to come halfway up the side of the meat. Cover securely.

Bake for 6-8 hours, turning every hour. Meat will be tender at 6 hours, and will fall apart at 8 hours. When finished, take meat out and slice or pull apart. Pour all sauce into heavy sauce pan and simmer uncovered until reduced by half. Skim fat off the top as needed. Put pulled beef into serving dish and pour sauce over the top. Can be served hot or cold.

Boca Negra - Flourless Chocolate Cake with Chipotle *recipe will be added later, Charlotte just woke up from her nap, so its time to go get her*

A Whole Weekend

I'm so excited, I feel like a school girl. T is coming home from his business trip and I'm finally home from mine and we are going to spend the whole weekend together. He even promised to turn off Felicity (the Flashing Blackberry). I know, it seems so silly that we had to plan a weekend just to spend time, but I was just feeling so lonely. And I was feeling like work was crashing in on my life and sucking me in. But now I'm planning menus for the whole weekend and I'm so excited about being able to cook for someone.

The current menus are as follows:

Dinner (to be eaten slowly, with wine, on the couch)
Cheese Fondue with roasted onions, sausages, and crusty bread
Chocolate Fondue with pound cake, red fruit, and marshmallows

Breakfast
Stuffed Ricotta Pancakes - Williams-Sonoma Recipe View
Italian Eggs over Foccacia

Dinner (to be eaten at the table)
Not sure yet, but I'm sure I'll get inspired soon......

Fire Alarm

I've hit pretty close to break-down. Ok, so I am in the process of a break down...... No need to correct me, I know I'm a little unstable. Betweent the move, the family in town, having other people in the house, work travel, T's travel, and just general unrest I've been getting more and more depressed. And having other people in the house makes it pretty hard to find enough space to relax, destress, and get back to normal. I guess its been building for a while.

The fire alarm went off last night, both literally and figuratively. I got to the point of not wanting to be in the house anymore. It was the emotional equivalent of a very loud, uncontrollable siren. Which is probably how I sounded in my crying, shaking, sniveling, dripping breakdown. But it was, in many ways, what I needed. I need some space, I need some quiet, and mostly I need some of the pressures to relax. I think the breakdown came just soon enough to not do anything more drastic than take a little time off with my feet up.

The more entertaining alarm was the bacon that I burned, while talking to my dad on the phone. Apparently bacon cooks more quickly than I think, and it smokes. And not in a good way. But again, we have alarms for a reason, and while the house smelled like burned bacon, and I'm pretty sure we woke up the whole neighborhood, the house is still standing and I did have enough bacon left to salvage the sandwich. Which actually turned out very tasty.

Cheddar, Apple, Bacon Melt with Carmelized Onion Mayo

2 slices of bread (pumpernickel is suggested)
1/4-1/2 Apple, sliced thin
4 strips of bacon
4 Slices of Cheddar Cheese (about 1/4 cup grated)
2 slices of tomato

1/4 C diced red onion
1 T olive oil
1 t port wine vinegar
4 T mayonaise

Saute the red onion in the olive oil and vinegar until very tender and transparent. Combine with mayo and set aside. Saute bacon until just crispy (avoid burning, smoking, and fire alarms whenever possible), let cool and break into 2-inch pieces. Butter bread and lay butter side down in pan. Spread 1 T prepared onion mayo on bottom slice. Layer apple slices, cheddar slices, bacon, tomato and top with the other slice of bread. Grill until cheese melts, flipping sides until done.