Cornmeal Griddle Cakes

Posted by Sheri on Sunday, May 19th, 2013 · Comments (3)

I was secretly happy that this week’s Baked Sunday Mornings project didn’t actually involve any baking. My life right now consists primarily of commuting to San Francisco for my culinary school externship, spending the bulk of the day at said externship (at the fabulous Bar Tartine), and recovering from time spent on my feet moving, moving, moving. It’s exhausting.

These pancakes are very simple to make, although they still require three bowls. The flavor is corn-centric, so it’s important to use fresh, good-quality cornmeal – my favorite is from Anson Mills. The headnote describes them as flat corn muffins, and I have to say I agree. We loved them.

I’ll admit, we didn’t eat the pancakes for breakfast. We ate them for dinner. Standing up, in the kitchen, snacking from the tray of freshly cooked bacon in between bites of pancakes. It was perfect.

As for syrup: we tried a vanilla bourbon sorghum topping and didn’t love it. Avocado honey was great. My preference is for copious amounts of salty butter.

To get the recipe and see the other entries from this week’s Baked Sunday Mornings head on over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

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Categories : Baked Sunday Mornings, Breakfast, Recipes
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Lemon Curd Souffle

Posted by Sheri on Monday, May 13th, 2013 · Comments (3)

We had our friends Matt and Sean over for dinner, and the pressure was on. They love food. They live in San Francisco and are used to eating at some of the best restaurants around. My goal was to make something delicious but still easy enough for me to enjoy their company.

I decided on a simple appetizer of manchego cheese topped with chunks of quince paste, and some Marcona almonds. I made pasta by hand, but it can be done ahead of time – and since it’s fresh, it cooks up very quickly. The sauce for the pasta can be done ahead of time as well, leaving just a quick warm-up on the stove and tossing in the cooked pasta. Sauteed vegetables and an easy salad with a flavorful, creamy dressing pair well with the meal – the fennel in the vegetables and the tarragon in the dressing play well together.

Dinner was very good, but not spectacular. A solid performance. I decided to go dramatic for dessert, though. Souffles seem elegant and difficult, but they’re really not. It’s just some sort of a base, lightened with whipped egg whites, and baked. In this case, the base is lemon curd – use your favorite recipe, or even a high-quality prepared version will do.

The souffles can be made the same day and stored in the refrigerator for a few hours before baking. No need to make them up at the last minute. They’ll still puff up beautifully, but serve them quickly, because they deflate in no time at all!

Lemon Curd Souffle
Yield: 4 servings

Melted butter and granulated sugar, for the ramekins
1 cup prepared lemon curd, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
5 egg whites, at room temperature
Powdered sugar, for dusting

Use a pastry brush to lightly coat the inside of four 1-cup ramekins and dust with sugar, tapping out the excess. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the lemon curd in a large bowl and whisk to smooth it out.

Whip the egg whites to soft peaks, then gradually add in the sugar, whisking until the whites form stiff, shiny peaks.

Gently fold a quarter of the egg whites into the lemon curd to lighten the mixture, then fold the remaining whites in, leaving no white streaks.

Gently fill the ramekins with the curd mixture, dividing it evenly between the dishes (the souffles can be stored in the refrigerator for several hours at this point). Place the ramekins on a sheet pan and then into the oven. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Bake for approximately ten minutes, or until the souffles are puffy and golden brown on top.

Top with sifted powdered sugar and serve immediately.

Wine: Copain 2007 Wetzel Vineyard (Anderson Valley, California). Great wine – we had three bottles, and drank them all!

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Categories : Baked Goods, Best Of, Good for Company, Recipes, Salad
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Alfajores

Posted by Sheri on Sunday, May 12th, 2013 · Comments (6)

Larry got a couple of decent photos of these cookies immediately after I put them together, but I decided to show a later image so I don’t have to describe the horrors that are happening in my kitchen right now.

Despite my love of all things caramel, alfajores aren’t my favorite cookie. It’s the sandwich thing. I’m not sold on the idea – I like my cookies to be a little more singular in texture, none of this crunchy creamy mixed together stuff. There are exceptions, but alfajores don’t fall in that camp.

The cookies themselves are fairly simple to make, and are mildly lemony and slightly on the bland side. That makes sense – they are just a vehicle for the dulce de leche, right? The dough was really wet but after some time in the refrigerator it was easy to roll out. They’re kind of dry by themselves.

Then there’s the dulce de leche. I love it. And to be honest, I usually just buy it at the store. It’s really good, and it’s reliable. But I decided I’d make it this time since it’s been a while since I made it from scratch.

The book gives three methods for making the dulce de leche – stovetop, microwave, oven. I like having options, but I went ahead with the stovetop method, which is as simple as dumping condensed milk into a double boiler with a bit of salt, and letting it cook down until it’s thick and caramel-y.

My dulce de leche was not done in the 1.5-2 hours suggested by the recipe – at 4 hours, it looked fairly dark and thick and I was happy with it. I’m not the only baker in the group that had this experience, and I faintly remember it taking a long time when I’ve made it in the past.

Here’s where things went wrong. It was late, so I put the dulce de leche in the refrigerator overnight. I took it out the next day and whipped it up a bit in the mixer to get the lumps out (per the recipe). It lightened up a bit, but I expected that. It looked fine, and I loaded it up into a piping bag.

It piped out beautifully onto the cookies, and I carefully topped each one and gave them some time to set up. But instead of setting up, they just kind of melted. I think the photo speaks for itself.

For the recipe and to see how the other Baked Sunday Mornings bakers fared, head over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

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Categories : Baked Goods, Baked Sunday Mornings, Cookies, Dessert, Recipes
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Black Cod, Roasted Cauliflower, Beurre Blanc

Posted by Sheri on Saturday, May 11th, 2013 · Comments (0)

As much as I love fresh black cod when we get it in our delivery from Siren Fish Co., I wasn’t up for doing anything elaborate with it. Plus, it’s so delicious, buttery and fresh, it really doesn’t need much of anything to make it a satisfying meal.

I decided to totally wing it. Plus I wanted Larry to experience the pleasure of a beurre blanc. Cauliflower from our CSA, tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted until the tops were brown and nutty formed the base of the dish. I steamed the fish in a sauté pan with a small amount of white wine. And then there’s the beurre blanc, the crowning glory.

If you think buerre blanc is fancy or heavy, it’s not. It’s surprisingly light for a sauce that’s essentially made of pure butter. Balance comes from a bit of acid – an even mix of white wine vinegar and white wine, reduced with shallots. The shallots can be strained out or not – but if they’re not, they need to be cut into a tiny, perfect dice because they have an impact of the final appearance of the sauce.

Beurre blanc will hold as long as it’s kept in a warm spot, but it can’t be re-heated. No matter – I like to clarify it and use it for sauteeing. And it’s a great canvas for other flavors – either flavored vinegars, or try red wine for buerre rouge, or tender herbs, such as dill or chervil.

This is about as small a batch that can be easily made – getting the reduction down to a smaller quantity is difficult.

Beurre Blanc
Yield: 1 1/2 cups
2 T finely diced shallots
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
3 sticks (12 oz.) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces and chilled
salt
white pepper

In a small, non-reactive, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the shallots, white wine and white wine vinegar. Cook over medium heat until only 1 1/2 tsp. of liquid remains (watch the pan closely once the liquid is down to a few tablespoons).

Off the heat, whisk in one or two chunks of butter. When butter forms a creamy emulsion, place pot over low heat and add the rest of the butter, a few tablespoons at a time, whisking constantly. Continue adding more butter when the previous addition is about three-quarters melted.

Once all of the butter has been added, the sauce should appear creamy and uniform. Add salt and white pepper to taste and hold in a warm spot.

  • Steamed Black Cod
  • Beurre Blanc
  • Oven-Roasted Cauliflower
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Categories : Recipes, Seafood
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Balsamic and Beer-Braised Short Ribs with Parsnip Purée

Posted by Sheri on Monday, May 6th, 2013 · Comments (1)

Short ribs – every time I make them, I’m sorry. They’re really fatty, and it’s off-putting to me. The only way I’ve ever had any success is to cook the heck out of them, then refrigerate them in the braising liquid so I can pull off some of the fat.

I did that with this recipe – the flavor is better the next day, anyway. And the braising liquid – it’s dark and full of umami. It’s positively lip-smacking. We loved the parsnip puree with these ribs as well – so silky smooth, and the earthiness of the roots pairs so well with the ribs.

For the recipe, check out Flavors of Northwest Iowa.

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Categories : Beef, Best Of, Recipes
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Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

Posted by Sheri on Sunday, May 5th, 2013 · Comments (9)

I’ll just say up front here that I don’t really like Nutella. It’s the hazelnuts that put me off – they taste weird to me, not a fan.

But I can be convinced to consume hazelnuts in certain forms. Once we had a cake at a friend’s birthday party – I don’t remember exactly what it was, but I know it had hazelnuts, and it was surprisingly good. My friend and culinary school classmate Stephanie sells her homemade Nutella on Zaarly. I was lucky enough to receive a jar – it’s eat-it-right-off-the-spoon delicious.

This version is also pretty nice. It’s more chocolate-y than nutty, and it’s not at all too sweet. I deviated slightly from the recipe, choosing to boil the hazelnuts with a bit of baking soda to make the de-skinning process easier (details on the method here). It works great – and I lightly toasted the nuts once the skin was off.

Once the hazelnuts are prepped, this is pretty simple to make – just give everything a whiz in a food processor. I had to add a bit more oil to get the texture right, but even with the extra oil, mine turned out fairly thick and not totally smooth. No matter – it’s still pretty good. For something made with hazelnuts.

To get the recipe and see the other entries from this week’s Baked Sunday Mornings head on over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

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Categories : Baked Sunday Mornings, Recipes
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Meyer Lemon, Root Beer & Pear Bitters

Posted by Sheri on Tuesday, April 30th, 2013 · Comments (0)

Buoyed by my success with making vanilla bitters, I decided to try a few more flavors – this time using the excellent book “Bitters” as a guide.

The bitters are pretty simple to make, with just a couple of periods of maintenance. After the initial extraction (various roots and barks in high-proof alcohol), the solids are strained out of the liquid and boiled for a short time with more water. The cooked solids are stored again, separate from the initial liquid. The final step is to strain out the solids and mix everything together along with a bit of sweetener before bottling.

Again, my favorite way to test out the bitters is in an Old Fashioned. A classmate of mine gave me some buttered-popcorn infused rum (it’s amazing!), so I used that plus demerara simple syrup and the root beer bitters to create a drink that tastes like the movies.

I like the pear bitters with aged rum and some apple-clove shrub. All of them are excellent in a glass of water – bubbly or still. They’re definitely not something that should be confined to alcoholic endeavors.

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Categories : Drinks
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Skillet Chicken Pot Pie with Butternut Squash

Posted by Sheri on Monday, April 29th, 2013 · Comments (2)

Larry took charge of dinner, which is something I like very much. He picked the recipe and made most of it himself.

These hearty pot pies are simple to make with whatever vegetables you have on hand. We had leftover chicken in the fridge, but rotisserie chicken or any leftover shredded meat will work fine. Or go meatless. I wouldn't mind trying these with some cooked farro in the mix.

 

I took over the pot pie lids. We didn't have any puff pastry, and It seems as though Trader Joe's is no longer carrying their frozen all-butter puff pastry. I refuse to buy anything that isn't all butter, so I put together a batch of the delicious quick pastry from Smitten Kitchen. It's tender and surprisingly flaky for a dough that doesn't require any folding and turning.

 

We love these pot pies. I'm happy to have Larry make me dinner anytime.

 

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Categories : Poultry, Recipes
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Triple Rum Black Pepper Cake

Posted by Sheri on Sunday, April 28th, 2013 · Comments (7)

I just love Bundt cakes. And pair a Bundt with copious amounts of butter, rum and black pepper, and I’m in heaven.

This cake doesn’t disappoint. It’s got a dense, moist crumb that has all of the qualities of a good rum – slightly sweet and aromatic, with a hint of molasses – without being overwhelmingly boozy.

The title of the cake refers to the triple-whammy of rum that it receives, and not in quantities that are faint of heart. I cringed a bit as a poured out a healthy 3/4 cup of my beloved Zacapa 23 for the batter. The second hit of rum comes after the cake is cooled, in the form of a buttery syrup that’s soaked into the upside-down cake for a few hours. Then the crowning glory is a hot buttered rum glaze.

I didn’t have any issues with the cake until I made the glaze. It seemed thin enough to drizzle, but it just sort of glopped on. I put the bowl over a low flame for a few seconds, and it thinned out just fine – the butter had started to cool and harden. I cut back on the rum in the glaze by half, and added a bit of water to get the right consistency.

For the recipe and to see how the other Baked Sunday Mornings bakers fared, head over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

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Categories : Baked Goods, Baked Sunday Mornings, Cake, Dessert, Recipes
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Black & White Cookies

Posted by Sheri on Sunday, April 21st, 2013 · Comments (6)

This is the second time I’ve made black & white cookies. The only commercial version I’ve ever had are the ones from William Greenberg Desserts in NYC, so I don’t have a large body of knowledge to draw from when it comes to rating how these cookies stack up.

Ironically, despite my lack of black & white experience, I’m very opinionated about what they should be. They need to be light and cakey, and the icing needs to perfectly smooth and shiny. I have it in my head that the white frosting must contain fiori di sicilia, that aromatic, floral extract of vanilla and citrus.

My previous batch of black & whites was made using Stella’s recipe, which is excellent. The only change I made to her recipe was to add a teeny bit of fiori di sicilia to the white frosting – and I made the same adjustment with the Baked recipe.

I also skipped the butter. Leaf lard works so well in these cookies – it makes them unbelievably light and tender. It’s not quite an exact one-for-one substitution with butter and leaf lard (lard is all fat, butter is fat, milk solids, and water), but for the small amount needed for these cookies I decided it was close enough (I used 7 ounces of leaf lard).

Note to anyone curious about using lard for baking – it’s leaf lard that you want. It’s made from the internal fat surrounding the internal organs and is slightly porky when uncooked, and should be pure white. Regular lard is made from pork back fat and is super porky – it’s great for savory applications, but don’t use it for baking unless you want everything to taste, well, porky.

I think the final verdict on these cookies is that while we love them, we liked Stella’s recipe just slightly more. I was curious why – so I geeked out and looked at the two recipes side-by-side (converted to baker’s percentages):

Stella Baked   Stella Baked
cake frosting
flour 100 100 powdered sugar 100 100
fat 46 47 milk 17 13
sugar 83 58 cream 0 10
baking powder 8 3 corn syrup 4 0
baking soda 4 3 salt 5 0
salt 6 3 cocoa powder 4 17
egg yolk 0 10 vanilla 6 13
egg white 29 13
buttermilk 50 40

I didn’t break out the fat and moisture for the butter and the egg yolk – but Stella’s recipe has more sugar and more leavening, which makes sense – those cookies were puffier and more tender. We definitely liked her frosting better – the corn syrup helps with texture, and she used much less cocoa powder.

One thing, though – I like the addition of lemon zest in the Baked cookie. And Stella frosted the tops of her cookies, but it’s actually the bottom that should be frosted.

To get the recipe and see the other entries from this week’s Baked Sunday Mornings head on over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

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Categories : Baked Goods, Baked Sunday Mornings, Cookies, Recipes
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