We went to the farmer’s market today, and it appears to be citrus season. I’ve got navel oranges, blood oranges, grapefruits, and a couple of meyer lemons, all for under $10. I love the farmer’s market.
I wasn’t sure what would be best to make; but I started with an orange curd using a couple of the navel oranges. I started with a yuzu curd recipe that I got from Extraordinary Desserts, and just kind of improvised. It could probably stand some improvement, but as it stands it tastes a bit like an orange julius with more eggs mixed in.
The orange curd is meant to be baked — the recipe I have for the yuzu curd has you bake it in some puff pastry with almonds — but if you use pasteurized eggs, you can use the unbaked curd as a glaze or sauce, too. I’ve now got a whole bowlful, and I’m not sure what to put it on.
Chilled orange curd
Here’s what I did:
- * Juice enough oranges to get about 1/2 cup of juice. For me this was one and a half oranges.
- * Slice off the peel from another orange, then dice up the rest of the orange, and add it all to the same container.
- * Zest a lemon into the same container.
- * Cut a stick of butter (1/2 cup) into cubes and set aside.
- * Add 1 cup of sugar and 4 eggs (preferably pasteurized) to a medium saucepan; mix together, then add in the orange juice/zest/orange mixture.
- * Whisk it around in the saucepan over low heat; the orange chunks will cook down a bit and juice; feel free to smush the orange chunks and juice them a bit more.
- * Keep whisking until the mixture starts to visibly thicken, between 5 and 10 minutes. You really can’t time it, you just have to watch it. Make sure it doesn’t get too hot and curdle.
- * Once the mixture is thick enough, drop in the butter. Continue whisking until the butter is melted.
- * As soon as the butter is all melted, take the mixture off the heat.
- * Strain the mixture through a wire strainer; you’re going to have to help it through with the whisk, moving around and pressing on the orange chunks and pulp to get the curd through.
- * Chill it in the fridge for an hour or two, and you’re done!
The curd can be used as a topping if you used pasteurized eggs, or added to pastries and baked (it comes out with a texture similar to the cheese in a cheese danish).
So I recently also took a class at Extraordinary Desserts, probably the best place in San Diego to get decadent, creative, and yummy desserts (and decent meal-food, too). One of the items that the proprietor and executive chef (Karen Krasne) taught us to make was chocolate pots-de-creme.
I’d also recently found a recipe for homemade Oreo-style cookies, and gave the filling part a try. A couple of years ago I’d had a mocha at Hash House a Go Go that was a special — an “oreo mocha” where the mocha itself tasted exactly like Oreo creme filling. I’d wanted to replicate that for a while now, and after a few practice runs (hint, don’t add too much vanilla extract), I’ve got something close, though it still doesn’t match the actual filling of Oreo cookies. I’ll have to experiment more; I’m not yet to the point of buying a pack of Double-Stuf Oreos just to scrape out the filling into a bowl, but I might if I can’t get it right.
So, the other day, I combined the two joys!
First, I whipped together some of the creme filling. I used the recipe for the filling from the King Arthur Flour site above, but left out the gelatin and water. I combined the shortening and sugar along with the vanilla (scraping the mixture off of the whisk a LOT), then added a tiny bit of cold water as it mixed to bring its consistency together. That mostly worked.
Then, I did up the pots-de-creme. That was reasonably easy if a bit involved. I’m not 100% clear on reposting recipes, so the closest recipe I’ve found to what I was using was Oprah’s pots-de-creme — the only difference being that the recipe I was using has you add the milk and creme mixture to the eggs first, then reheat it to custard-ize the mixture and then pour that over the chocolate bits. (Also, for those who know what I’m talking about, I think the stuff that gets strained out of the pots-de-creme in the final step is the same thing that forms pudding skin.)
Next, assembly! I started with some of the creme filling crumblies in a little plastic container:
I took a second container and mashed it down on the crumblies in the first one, trying to compress it into a kind of cake. I’m not yet clear on what exactly holds it together and how to improve it, but this seemed to work, even though some of the resulting cakes came apart later. (It’s still tasty.)
After working it loose in the first container and setting it atop the second, you get this:
Next, I filled a bunch of the same containers about half-full of the pot-de-creme mixture, and put them in the freezer for a few minutes to harden up:
Then the cake goes on top:
And fill the rest with more chocolate pot-de-creme:
You can just see the creme filling cake on the side there.
I brought a bunch in to work, and everyone seemed happy with them; I got a suggestion to add some kind of crunchy something to the mix, which I’ll have to experiment with — I’m wondering if that should be something cookie-like or if I should try cocoa nibs.
The next recipe will be for the pavlovas I made with the egg whites leftover from this recipe. Happy desserting!
So, I’ve been afraid of fish for a while. Not of the fish themselves, but of cooking them. I know it’s good for you, and I grew up with my dad cooking some really yummy fish, but I’ve not really worked up the courage to try (and possibly ruin a pricey cut of fish!) I finally tried poaching some inexpensive flounder a few weeks back, but it was so delicate that it basically came apart in the water as it cooked and turned into unintentional cioppino with floating aromatics. I fished out (ha!) most of the pieces and we had fish piles that night. Not too bad, just not super great.
Cue a few weeks later; I’d signed up for the “Something’s Fishy” class at Great News, probably the best casual cooking school and non-ripoff cookware store I know of. The class was taught by a couple of managers and chefs from Iowa Meat Farms and Siesel’s, which would be the best place I know of to get meat and occasionally seafood. (Even they admitted it was a bit weird for a meat place to do a seafood class, but it worked.)
Anyway, the other night I picked up a side of salmon (not sure what you call it) to try out. Their recipe was for plank-grilled salmon with maple-mustard glaze, which was really tasty when I had it at the class. I haven’t washed the grill in ages (I know, sacrilege, but it’s been too hot to do much outside next to a giant heat source), so I figured I’d try the recipe, but bake the salmon instead.
Here’s the salmon fresh out of the package:
The glaze is really simple — basically, you take some sweet onion (the recipe called for just a half, but I used a whole one), then sautee it to translucent, just before it starts to caramelize. (You don’t need the extra sugar in this case.) Then, add half a cup of whole-grain dijon mustard and a whole cup of maple syrup. Mix it up and bring it to a simmer; let it reduce for about 5 minutes, or more if you want it thicker. Be careful not to let it burn, since there’s a lot of sugar in there.
Brown isn’t always appetizing, but the end result is yummy.
Once the glaze is ready, let it cool down somewhat. Then brush and drizzle it all over the salmon, and put the salmon in the oven at 400 degrees. Let it go for between 10 and 20 minutes depending on the size of the piece; I added more glaze if needed at 10 minutes, and started checking it at about 15.
One of the key things about fish that I didn’t really get until now was that you can’t go off of time; you really need to check the fish and look for signs that it’s done. I started pulling back pieces of the salmon and checking to where it was touching the baking dish — after three or four times of doing that, it looked like there was only a tiny piece that was still raw-ish. This was also the point where the salmon’s fat started coming out of the piece of meat (as you can see a bit in the picture). Remembering that carryover does its thing and that it’s better to undercook fish than to overcook it, I pulled it out at this point and got a really tasty meal (and lunch and dinner the next day, too).
Here’s the final prize:
Serve it with some more of the glaze on the side.
The other things I really liked at the fish class were the bacon-wrapped margarita-glazed scallops and the steak that went with it. I have to say that I’ve been to a couple of really good steak restaurants, but none of those could match the steak at this class. It’s enough to make me want to take these guys’ beef class when it comes up next.
I don’t normally title anything ‘dragon whatever’, but in this case I’d like to make an exception. I’m getting rather tired of everyone assuming that ‘dragon whatever’ must be incredibly spicy and cause you to reach for the nearest firehose to douse the flames. Dragons have taste buds too, and appreciate subtle complementary flavors as well as the truly spicy.
So here I present my dragon scrambled eggs.
INGREDIENTS:
4 to 6 eggs, shell-pasteurized if possible (eggs will be cooked wet at lower temperature, so better be safe than sorry)
1 tablespoon (more or less) of cream cheese
Pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Butter for the frying pan
DIRECTIONS:
Crack the eggs into a bowl, and beat with a fork for 30 seconds or so. Take the dollop of cream cheese cold from the refrigerator, and add it to the bowl. Break up the cream cheese a bit with a fork, and continue beating. Add the salt, continue beating. Your goal is not to get the ingredients to mix completely; rather, the cream cheese will be in small chunks or lumps. Add the cinnamon, and beat some more. Note that it will be very difficult to get the cinnamon into the mixture — it will want to coat the bowl instead. Just do as best you can.
Heat up the frying pan low to medium hot; you want to slowly cook the eggs, more slowly than normal scrambled eggs. Add a good dollop (half to one tablespoon) of butter, and let it melt and coat the pan. Dump the egg mixture from the bowl into the pan. Stir it around slowly with a spatula or other device. Once the eggs start to set, flip chunks over so the still-raw top can cook a little bit. Once the eggs look almost set, plate them quickly; they’ll set up a bit as they get plated, and you don’t want to cook them any more!
Serves 1 to 2, depending on if you have side dishes. I usually don’t.
These are from a friend of my dad’s. They are not to be toyed with; 2 or 3 of these will have you quite pleased with yourself; any more and you risk slipping under the table. ALSO NOTE — these are definitely not for the underaged among you.
INGREDIENTS:
2 and a half cups finely crushed vanilla wafers (Nila wafers, for example)
1 cup powdered sugar, plus extra for coating
1 cup finely chopped nuts
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 cup (or more; the danger comes from the full cup of brandy Gerri uses)
3 Tablespoons corn syrup
DIRECTIONS:
Mix vanilla wafers, sugar, nuts, and cocoa. Add corn syrup and brandy.
Mix well with hands or whatever’s convenient. Roll into 1 inch balls, then roll around in powdered sugar to coat.
Notes:
* 1 cup crushed graham crackers can be substituted for vanilla wafers, if desired. Never tried this variation, though.
* Balls may be rolled in granulated or superfine sugar instead of powdered sugar — Gerri prefers them rolled in granulated sugar.
* Wafers, nuts, sugar, and cocoa can be put through a grinder or food processor to make them as fine as possible.
Here’s the chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve been using lately. It’s pretty good; especially at making the gooey soft chewy cookies I like. Originally I found it here, with modifications picked up through a night of frantic googling.
INGREDIENTS:
2 and 1/4 cups pastry flour (makes cookies lighter)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt (very important; we left it out as kids, not knowing how much it helps flavor)
1 cup (2 sticks or 1/2 pound) of softened butter
3/4 cup granulated (white) sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon (not teaspoon) of vanilla or other flavoring extract
2 eggs
2 cups (12 ounce package) of Toll House semi-sweet chocolate morsels (or other morsel product — they have lots.)
DIRECTIONS:
Start by combining the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl (not the main mixing bowl).
Melt the butter in another bowl, and mix together with the brown sugar till the brown sugar is as dissolved (or suspended) in the butter as it will get.
In the mixing bowl, add the granulated sugar and the extract, then pour in the melted butter and brown sugar. Let it cool somewhat so that the eggs don’t cook when you add them. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate morsels, then immerse the bowl in ice water or put it in the refrigerator to chill the dough.
Drop rounded tablespoon sized portions onto ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for 9 to 11 minutes at 375 degrees F. Note, the temperature is somewhat important — our oven is about 50 degrees cooler than what the temperature is set at, so do as Alton Brown says and get an oven thermometer.
Note that to play with this recipe even more, you can substitute things like peppermint or rum extract for the vanilla extract, or try different flavored morsels — I tried cappucino morsels once, and that wasn’t very exciting, but the mint and raspberry ones sound pretty good.
